nestimat

Forms

nestimat m or n (feminine singular nestimată, masculine plural nestimați, feminine/neuter plural nestimate)^[1]

Etymology

Ciorănescu explains it as the Romanian negative prefix ne- with inherited from Latin aestimātus (“valued, assessed”), the participle of aestimō (“to value, estimate”), following Tiktin and Pascu.^[2] Tiktin holds that the Latin verb survived in Romanian only in this combination, rejects a link with Ancient Greek στέμματα (stémmata, “crowns”), and takes the modern stima “to esteem” as a separate loan from Italian.^[3] Wiktionary likewise has the participle inherited and the prefix added within Romanian.^[1] DEX, MDA2 and DLR give no derivation, only comparing Latin inaestimābilis (“priceless”) and French inestimable.^[4][5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

MDA2 takes its first record from Codru-Drăgușanu, without a year.^[5] The DLR quotes him praising the Romanian language as a great and priceless boon, „folos mare şi nestimat”, and Filimon writing of “rare and priceless qualities”.^[6]

Semantic evolution

Ciorănescu glosses the word “precious, valuable” and says it is used only of precious stones; he lists the noun nestimată “precious stone” as a derivative.^[2] The Academy dictionaries keep the gem sense under the separate headword nestemată, recorded from Budai-Deleanu's lexicon of 1818, and give nestimat only the dated sense “priceless, inestimable”.^[5][7][4] Tiktin records pietri nestemate “precious stones” in an Alexandria of 1794 and a wider figurative use in the 19th century.^[3]

Timeline

• 1794 – pietri nestemate “precious stones” in an Alexandria, the first date Tiktin gives for the word family.^[3]
• 1818 – nestemată “gem” in Budai-Deleanu's lexicon.^[5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (dated) priceless, inestimable: of a value beyond reckoning.^[4][5][1]

Related words

• nestemată
• stima
• Latin aestimō

Usage notes

The variant nestemat and the phrase piatră nestemată “precious stone” are entered under nestemată in DEX.^[4]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b 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. nestimat
3. ^ a b c Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. nestemat
4. ^ a b c d DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 712
5. ^ a b c d e Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 145
6. ^ a b Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. nestimat
7. ^ Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. nestemată