nostim

Forms

nostim m or n (feminine singular nostimă, masculine plural nostimi, feminine/neuter plural nostime)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Modern Greek νόστιμος (nóstimos, “tasty, pleasant”).^{[2][3][4][5][1][6]} Ciorănescu cites Cihac and Gáldi for it.^[2][7] In Greek the adjective goes back to Ancient Greek νόστιμος (nóstimos), formed on νόστος (nóstos, “homecoming”) with the suffix -ιμος (-imos): it meant “belonging to a return” and, of plants and food, “yielding a good return, nourishing”.^[1][7] Medieval Greek used it for food with a pleasant taste and, figuratively, for anything pleasant.^[8] In Modern Greek it means “tasty” and “charming”.^[9]

The word is also Aromanian: Aromanian nostim “tasty, pleasant”.^[2][10][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in a manuscript translation from Modern Greek of Fénelon's Télémaque, dated 1772, where it still has its Greek sense “tasty”: „o gustare proastă, dar nostimă” “a poor but tasty snack”.^[3][4][6]

Semantic evolution

The old sense “pleasant to taste or smell” is now obsolete.^[3][4] By the 1830s the word was used of people and things pleasant to look at, attractive and charming.^[4] From this it came to mean “witty, amusing” and, ironically, “ridiculous, odd”.^[5][3][12] Ciorănescu also lists nostimadă “charm; joke”, borrowed from νοστιμάδα (nostimáda).^[2]

Timeline

• 1772 – first record, “tasty”, in the translation of Fénelon's Télémaque.^[3][4]
• 1837 – used of a young queen in the sense “charming”.^[4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. funny, witty, amusing: o întâmplare nostimă “a funny incident”.^[5][1]
2. (ironic) ridiculous, odd.^[5][3]
3. cute, attractive, pleasant: un copil nostim “a cute child”.^[5][3]
4. (obsolete) Pleasant to the taste or smell; tasty.^[3][4]

Related words

• nostimadă
• Aromanian nostim
• Modern Greek νόστιμος (nóstimos)

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d 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. nostim
3. ^ 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, 168
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. nostim
5. ^ a b c d e DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 721
6. ^ a b Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. nostim
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. 679
8. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
9. ^ Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
10. ^ Pascu, Giorge (1925), Dictionnaire étymologique macédoroumain, 2 vols. (I: Les éléments latins et romans; II: Les éléments grecs, turcs, slaves, albanais, germaniques, magyars, néologismes, créations immédiates, obscurs), Iași: Cultura Națională, p. 2, 68
11. ^ Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net), p. 752
12. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 876