neamț

Forms

neamț m (plural nemți)^[1] MDA2 records a rare plural neamți beside nemți.^[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Old Church Slavonic нѣмьць (němĭcĭ, “German”), from Proto-Slavic *němьcь.^{[3][4][2][5][6][1]} The Slavic word is usually explained from *němъ (“mute”) with the suffix *-ьcь: someone who could not speak intelligibly, a foreigner.^[1][7][8] Wiktionary also cites a view that it comes from the name of the Germanic tribe the Nemetes, reshaped after the word for “mute”;^[1][9] Scriban compared that tribal name.^[1][9]

Ciorănescu compares Hungarian német and Modern Greek νέμτζης (némtzis).^[3] TESz takes the Hungarian word from Slavic as well.^[10] Compare Bulgarian немец (nemec).^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to 1395, and the diminutive Nemțișor to 1409.^[5] In the chronicles it is common: Ureche writes of a king of Hungary who had much to do „cu nemții și cu vecinii săi” “with the Germans and his neighbours”.^[11]

Semantic evolution

The word means a German, and in popular use above all an Austrian.^[4][8] In Maramureș the memory of Austrian rule made the German and the lord one figure for the peasant.^[12] In the plural, and in the old language also in the singular, it named the German and the Austrian peoples.^[11][2] Regionally it could mean any foreigner from the west, a Catholic or Protestant, or a man in town clothes.^[3][8][13]

Folk sayings picture the German as a drinker: a lua luleaua neamțului “to take the German's pipe” means to get drunk, and a merge drept ca neamțul is to walk unsteadily, drunk.^[5][9][4] De când nemții cu coadă “since the Germans with pigtails” means “from long ago”, after the pigtails of the Austrian soldiers.^[5][2] In Moldova neamțul is also a figure of the New Year mumming and a folk dance.^[2]

Timeline

• 1395 – first record.^[5]
• 1409 – the diminutive Nemțișor.^[5]
• 1607 – the personal name Nemcioi.^[14]
• c. 1642–1647 – nemții “the Germans” in Ureche's chronicle.^[11][2]
• 1680 – the family name Neamțu in Transylvania.^[14]
• 1801 – Neámtz, glossed Latin Germanus, in Klein's dictionary.^[15]

Meanings

Noun

1. (popular) A German or an Austrian.^[4][2][1]
2. (regional) A foreigner from the west.^[13][16]
3. (regional) A man in town clothes.^[13][2]
4. (Moldova, with the article) A folk dance and its tune.^[2][13]

Word family

• nemțoaică
• nemțesc
• nemțește
• nemțime
• nemțișor
• nemțean

Related words

• Neamț

Usage notes

The feminine is nemțoaică, which also meant a governess, since many of them were German or Austrian.^[5][16] In Maramureș neamț also names a pole with pegs on which clover is dried.^[12] The county and river Neamț take their name from the word.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 114
3. ^ a b c 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. neamț
4. ^ a b c d DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 696
5. ^ a b c d e f g Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. neamț
6. ^ Kurz, Josef; Hauptová, Zoe (eds.) (1958–1997), Slovník jazyka staroslověnského / Lexicon linguae palaeoslovenicae, 4 vols. + supplements, Praha: Academia; digital ed. gorazd.org
7. ^ a b Georgiev, Vladimir I. et al. (eds.) (1971–), Bălgarski etimologičen rečnik, Sofija: Izdatelstvo na Bălgarskata akademija na naukite, p. 4, 609
8. ^ a b c Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 421
9. ^ a b c Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 859
10. ^ Benkő, Loránd (ed.) (1967–1976), A magyar nyelv történeti-etimológiai szótára, 3 vols., Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, p. 2, 1011
11. ^ a b c Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. neamț
12. ^ a b Ștef, Dorin (2011), Dicționar de regionalisme și arhaisme din Maramureș, Baia Mare: Ethnologica, p. s.v. neamț
13. ^ a b c d Bulgăr, Gheorghe; Constantinescu-Dobridor, Gheorghe (2002), Dicționar de arhaisme și regionalisme, 2 vols., București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. neamț
14. ^ a b Constantinescu, N. A. (1963), Dicționar onomastic romînesc, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. s.v. neamț
15. ^ Gáldi, László (ed.) (1944), Samuel Klein: Dictionarium valachico-latinum. Primul dicționar al limbii române, Budapest: Királyi Magyar Pázmány Péter Tudományegyetemi Román Intézet (Klein's dictionary of 1801, with Gáldi's etymological study), p. 405
16. ^ a b Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. neamț