oaste

Forms

oaste f (plural oști)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin hostis (“stranger, enemy”), in its accusative hostem.^[2][1][3][4] Pușcariu, Candrea and Densusianu and the REW give the same source.^[2][5] The Latin word first meant a stranger, then a public enemy; the sense “army” is that of Medieval Latin and the Romance languages.^[6][1] Candrea and Densusianu explain it by the use of the word for the enemy's army, generalised later.^[7] Ungureanu cites the Latin word in the sense “army” in Gregory of Tours and in a letter of Gregory the Great of 592.^[8] The Latin word goes back to *gʰóstis (“guest, stranger”), which de Vaan reconstructs as *ghosti-.^[1][9]

It survives in all four branches: Aromanian oaste, Megleno-Romanian ǫsti and Istro-Romanian oste.^[2][10][11] In Aromanian it also meant “war”.^[5] The Romance cognates are Italian oste, Old French ost, Occitan ost, Spanish hueste and Portuguese hoste, all meaning “army”.^[2][12]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki of the early 16th century, at Psalm 26:6.^[13] A text of 1550–1580 in Gaster's chrestomathy says „Sisin... multe oști birui” “Sisin defeated many armies”, MDA2's first record.^[14][3] The Codicele Voronețean has it at James 4:1.^[6]

Semantic evolution

In the old language the word meant both an army and a war: Ureche says of the Polish king that „nu făcea oaste împotriva păgânilor” “he made no war on the infidels”, and Neculce writes of the Germans being at war with the Turks.^[6] From the army came the collective sense “soldiers” and the phrases om de oaste “soldier”, oaste de mare “fleet” and a face oastea “to do one's military service”.^[3] Figuratively it means a great multitude, as in Eminescu's and Vlahuță's verse.^[15][16]

Since the 19th century armată has been the ordinary word, and DEX labels oaste old and popular.^[4] It stayed in historical and elevated use, in the name of the paper Monitorul Oastei, and in jocular phrases such as oastea lui Papuc “a disorganised, undisciplined crowd”.^[6][3]

Timeline

• c. 1500-1520 – in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki, Psalm 26:6.^[13]
• 1550-1580 – oști “armies” in a text of Gaster's chrestomathy.^[14][3]
• c. 1563-1583 – in the Codicele Voronețean.^[6]
• 1581 – „va purta oștile” “he will lead the armies” in the Palia de la Orăștie.^[14]
• 1645 – „să tocmești oastea toată” “to draw up the whole army” in the Romanian Herodotus.^[14]
• 1649 – in Mardarie's Slavonic–Romanian lexicon, for Slavonic words for an army.^[17]
• 1688 – many times in the Bucharest Bible, as at Luke 2:13.^[18]

Meanings

Noun

1. (dated, popular) An army, a host; oștire.^[4][1]
2. (dated, popular) military service.^[4][19]
3. (rare) Soldiers, as a collective.^[3][15]
4. (figurative) A great multitude.^[4]
5. (dated) War; a battle.^[4][1]

Word family

• ostaș
• ostășesc
• ostășie
• ostășime
• oști
• oștire
• oștean
• oștenesc
• oștenie
• oștitor

Related words

• ostil
• oaspete
• Aromanian oaste
• Latin hostis

Usage notes

The genitive is oștii, and Scriban condemned oastei, which Tiktin also records.^[20][6] MDA2 has a separate oaste as a variant of ostie “fish spear”.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f 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. oaste
3. ^ a b c d e f g Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 181
4. ^ a b c d e f DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 727
5. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 4201
6. ^ a b c d e f Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. oaste
7. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Densusianu, Ov. (1907–1914), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române: elementele latine (A–Putea), București, p. s.v. oaste
8. ^ Ungureanu, Dan (2024), Istoria limbii române, Chișinău: Cartier, p. 346
9. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
10. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 803
11. ^ Popovici, Iosif (1909), Dialectele romîne din Istria II: texte și glosar, Halle a. S., p. 132
12. ^ Cihac, A. de (1870), Dictionnaire d'étymologie daco-romane I: Éléments latins comparés avec les autres langues romanes, Frankfurt am Main, p. 184
13. ^ a b Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Ungureanu, Mădălina; Moruz, Alexandru et al., roPsalt: Re-evaluating the Sixteenth Century Romanian Psalters (aligned corpus), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. Ps 26:6
14. ^ a b c d Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. oaste
15. ^ a b Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 3, 236
16. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. oaste
17. ^ Ungureanu, Mădălina; Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Moruz, Alexandru (eds.), eRomLex: The First Romanian Bilingual Dictionaries (17th century), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. s.v. oaste
18. ^ Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Luke 2:13
19. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. oaste
20. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1, 883