nat

Forms

nat m (plural nați)^[1] The plural is rare: nați or naturi; a regional variant is năt.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin nātus (“born; a son”), the past participle of nāscor (“to be born”).^[3][2][4][1] Ciorănescu compares the Latin plural in the sense “offspring”, as opposed to the parents.^[3] Wiktionary traces the Latin word to Proto-Indo-European *ǵn̥h₁tós (“begotten”), from the root *ǵenh₁- (“to beget”).^[1]

The noun's cognate south of the Danube is Aromanian nat, which means “newborn, small child”.^[5][3] Occitan nat also has “son”, and Old French and Occitan forms such as nada mean “girl”; Spanish nadie “nobody” and Spanish nada “nothing” are of the same Latin word.^[3][6][7] Candrea and Densusianu explain the sense “anybody, a person” from Latin phrases of the type “nobody born”, that is “nobody at all”.^[7] It is related to naște.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is a book inscription of 1802 printed by Iorga: a holy book was bought with 26 zloty gathered in the village „care năt o făcut bine” “from everyone who did good”.^[8][2][9] There the word already means “person”.^[8]

Semantic evolution

The Latin sense “born one, child” lives on in Aromanian; north of the Danube it became “person, individual”, and survives mainly in the phrase tot natul “everybody”.^[3][10] Ciorănescu places it in Transylvania and the Banat, and only here and there in Oltenia.^[3] Coșbuc uses it collectively, nat de rând “the common folk”.^[8][11]

Regional senses are “kin, family” (Transylvania, Muntenia), “son” and “crowd”.^[2][12][10] Șăineanu has “lad” in the Banat dialect.^[13]

Timeline

• 1802 – năt “person” in a book inscription, the first record.^[8][2]
• 1857 – tot natul “everybody” in Polizu's dictionary.^[8]
• 1893–1895 – Damé records it as a Banat word for “individual”.^[14]

Meanings

Noun

1. (popular, regional) A person, an individual;^[4][2] tot natul “everybody, each and every one”.^[4][2]
2. (regional, Transylvania) kin, family; a relative.^[2][10]
3. (regional, rare) A son.^[2]

Word family

• nată

Related words

• naște
• Aromanian nat
• Latin nātus

Usage notes

The proverb tot natul știe unde-l strâng curelele “everyone knows where his own straps pinch” means that each person knows his own troubles.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 97
3. ^ a b c d e f g Ciorănescu, Alexandru (1958–1966), Diccionario etimológico rumano, La Laguna: Universidad de La Laguna (Romanian ed.: Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române, București: Saeculum, 2001), p. s.v. nat
4. ^ a b c DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 690
5. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 729
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 5851
7. ^ a b Candrea, I.-A.; Densusianu, Ov. (1907–1914), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române: elementele latine (A–Putea), București, p. s.v. nat
8. ^ a b c d e Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. nat
9. ^ Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. nat
10. ^ a b c Ștef, Dorin (2011), Dicționar de regionalisme și arhaisme din Maramureș, Baia Mare: Ethnologica, p. s.v. nat
11. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 3, 162
12. ^ Marin, Maria; Mărgărit, Iulia, Glosar dialectal. Muntenia, București: Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti”, p. 276
13. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 1, 420
14. ^ Damé, Frédéric (1893–1895), Nouveau dictionnaire roumain-français, 4 vols., Bucarest: Imprimerie de l'État, p. 2