opt

Forms

opt^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin octō (“eight”).^{[2][3][4][5][1][6]} The numeral survives in all four branches: Aromanian optu, Megleno-Romanian uopt and Istro-Romanian opt.^[2][7][8][9] Its Romance cognates include Dalmatian uapto, Italian otto, French huit, Occitan uech, Spanish ocho and Portuguese oito.^[2][10][1]

The Latin numeral continues Proto-Indo-European *oḱtṓw (“eight”).^[1][11] Its cognates include Ancient Greek ὀκτώ (oktṓ), German acht and Albanian tetë.^[11][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is in the Codicele Voronețean, a 16th-century text, at 2 Peter 2:5.^[4] The Psaltirea Scheiană has it at Psalm 89:11.^[12] MDA2 cites the Moldavian law code of Vasile Lupu's time.^[5] The old texts form the ordinal as al optul.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Used as a noun, the numeral names the figure 8 and a drawing in that shape, with the plural opturi, the mark eight at school, and a folk dance with its tune, optul.^[13][5][3] Popular phrases include a mânca cât opt “to eat a great deal” and a se duce opt (cu a brânzei) “to go very far”, which the DLR connects with the cheese week before Lent.^[5][3] The compound opt-mustăți names a catfish from America.^[5][3]

From the 18th century the ordinal also takes the form in -tălea beside al optulea.^[4] The numeral formed optsprezece “eighteen” and optzeci “eighty”.^[4] Ciorănescu derives optar, a card with eight pips, on the model of Modern Greek, and lists optime “an eighth”.^[2]

Timeline

• 16th century – opt and the ordinal al optul in the Codicele Voronețean.^[4]
• c. 1573–1578 – in the Psaltirea Scheiană (Psalm 89:11).^[12]
• c. 1660 – in a Slavonic–Romanian lexicon, in the gloss of the Octoechos.^[14]
• 1688 – in the Bucharest Bible (Luke 2:21).^[15]
• 18th century – ordinals in -tălea.^[4]
• 1825 – optu in the Lexicon de la Buda.^[16]

Meanings

Numeral

1. eight: the number between seven and nine: Am citit opt cărți. “I read eight books.”^[13][5][1]
2. Used as an ordinal: pagina opt “page eight”.^[13][5]
3. Preceded by câte: eight at a time.^[13][5]

Noun

1. The figure 8; a drawing or figure of that shape.^[13][5]
2. The mark eight at school.^[13][5]
3. (with the article) A folk dance and its tune.^[13][5]

Word family

• optar
• optime
• optsprezece
• optzeci

Related words

• Aromanian optu
• Latin octō

Usage notes

Old texts have a defective verb opt “must”, as in Coresi's „noi opt să murim” “we must die”.^[17] Tiktin and Scriban take it from the Latin phrase opus est “it is necessary”.^[17][18] MDA2 lists it under op.^[5]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g 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. opt
3. ^ a b c d Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. opt
4. ^ 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. opt 1
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 217
6. ^ Pușcariu, Sextil (1905), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der rumänischen Sprache I: Lateinisches Element, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 107
7. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 807
8. ^ Byhan, Arthur (1899), Istrorumänisches Glossar, Sechster Jahresbericht des Instituts für rumänische Sprache zu Leipzig: 174–366, p. 293
9. ^ Kovačec, August (1998), Istrorumunjsko-hrvatski rječnik (s gramatikom i tekstovima), Pula
10. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 6035
11. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
12. ^ 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 89:11
13. ^ a b c d e f g DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 746
14. ^ 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. opt
15. ^ Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Lc 2:21
16. ^ Lesicon românescu-latinescu-ungurescu-nemțescu quare de mai mulți autori, în cursul a trideci și mai multor ani s-au lucrat (1825), Buda: Typographia Universității (the Lexicon of Buda, ed. Petru Maior et al.), p. 467
17. ^ 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. opt 2
18. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 905