necaz

Forms

necaz n (plural necazuri)^[1] In Moldavia and the Banat the word is năcaz, the form Neculce writes: „boiernașii făce multe năcazuri casălor celor mari” “the petty boyars did much harm to the great houses”.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Old Church Slavonic наказъ (nakazŭ, “instruction”), a noun of наказати (nakazati, “to punish; to instruct”).^[2][5][1] DEX and DLR only compare the Slavonic word.^[6][4] Ciorănescu follows Miklosich and Cihac and compares Bulgarian наказ (nakaz, “misfortune”), Serbo-Croatian nakaz (“monster, freak”) and Czech nakaz (“epidemic”);^[2][7] Tiktin explains the Romanian senses from an original “punishment (of God)”.^[3] In Old Church Slavonic the verb meant “to teach, admonish”, and the Bulgarian noun meant “punishment, reproach”.^[8][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is a manuscript of 1654 printed in Gaster's chrestomathy: a prayer of St Nifon did not let the devil „să le facă nici un necazu” “do them any harm”.^[3][4][5] The Bible of 1688 uses it often for affliction and tribulation, in the Psalms and in the Epistles.^[10][4]

Semantic evolution

The old sense was harm or trouble caused to someone, a plague or adversity, often in the plural: Neculce's petty boyars did „multe năcazuri” to the great houses.^[4][3] From the trouble itself the word came to name the state of the one who suffers it, “grief, sorrow”, and the feeling it provokes, “annoyance, spite, anger”, as in a avea necaz pe cineva “to bear someone a grudge”.^[6][2][3] Ciorănescu also lists the sense “envy”.^[2] MDA2 records a regional sense “epilepsy” and a set of idioms: a da de ziua necazului “to fall on hard times”, a scoate din necaz “to help out of trouble”.^[5] The verb necăji “to grieve; to annoy” is a Romanian derivative.^[2]

Timeline

• 1654 – necazu “harm” in a manuscript prayer of St Nifon.^[3][4]
• 1688 – necaz and necazuri “affliction” in the Bucharest Bible.^[10]
• c. 1743 – năcazuri “harm, injustice” in Neculce's chronicle.^[4]
• 1776 – de necazul inimii “from grief of heart” in a Menaion.^[3]
• 1879 – Cihac treats it under năcaz, with necăjesc.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. The state of one who is troubled: sorrow, grief, suffering.^[6]
2. A trouble, misfortune or hardship, anything that causes physical or moral suffering; in the plural, trials, difficulties;^[6][5][1] A trecut prin multe necazuri. “He went through many hardships.”^[6][5][1]
3. annoyance, spite, anger against someone;^[6][2] a avea necaz pe cineva “to bear someone a grudge”.^[6][2]
4. (regional, medicine) epilepsy.^[5]

Word family

• necăji
• necăjicios

Usage notes

Set phrases: la necaz “in time of trouble”;^[6] în necazul cuiva “to spite someone”;^[6] a-i face cuiva în necaz “to annoy someone on purpose”;^[6] de necaz “out of spite”.^[6] The usual plural is necazuri;^[5] MDA2 also records a regional plural necaze.^[5]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. necaz
3. ^ 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. necáz
4. ^ a b c d e f g Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. necaz
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 117
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 698
7. ^ a b Cihac, A. de (1879), Dictionnaire d'étymologie daco-romane II: Éléments slaves, magyars, turcs, grecs-moderne et albanais, Frankfurt am Main, p. 215
8. ^ Kurz, Josef; Hauptová, Zoe (eds.) (1958–1997), Slovník jazyka staroslověnského / Lexicon linguae palaeoslovenicae, 4 vols. + supplements, Praha: Academia; digital ed. gorazd.org, p. s.v. наказати
9. ^ Trubačev, Oleg N.; Žuravlev, Anatolij F.; Varbot, Žanna Ž. (eds.) (1974–2021), Ètimologičeskij slovar' slavjanskix jazykov: praslavjanskij leksičeskij fond, vols. 1–42, Moskva: Nauka, p. 22, 122
10. ^ a b Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Ps 9:21