păgânătate

Forms

păgânătate f (uncountable)^[1] MDA2 records a variant păgânitate; the Lexicon de la Buda has it as its headword, glossed with Latin paganitas and German Heidenthum.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from Romanian păgân + -ătate, as MDA2, DEX and NODEX explain it.^[2][4][5] Others take it straight from Latin: Candrea and Densusianu derive it from Latin pāgānitās (“heathenism, paganism”), Șăineanu gives the same etymon, and Scriban leaves both explanations open.^[6][7][8] Wiktionary gives the Romanian formation first and the Latin word as a possibility.^[1] The Latin noun, a post-classical word for heathenism, is formed on pāgānus (“rural; heathen”).^[9][1]

Papahagi records Aromanian pãngãnãtate, of the same shape, in the sense “excrement”, and derives it from Latin.^[10][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to 1625.^[12] In the Bucharest Bible of 1688 the word is frequent, for “heathenism, ungodliness” and for the heathen nations: Deuteronomy 9:4 has păgânătatea, and Amos 1:3 the plural păgânătăți.^[13][14] MDA2's first record is in Grigore Ureche's chronicle of Moldavia.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Tiktin's oldest senses are “heathendom, ungodliness” and, as a collective, “the heathen people”;^[12] Năsturel writes of Indians who turned from păgânătate and were joined to Christ by baptism.^[12] MDA2 adds the old senses “sin” and “grave misdeed”.^[2] As a collective the word came to mean the Turks, the Ottoman host, as in Eminescu's line „Peste-un ceas păgânătatea e ca pleava vânturată” “within an hour the heathen host is like chaff in the wind”, from a description of a victory over the Turks.^[12][15] Scriban also records a figurative sense “barbarity”.^[8]

Timeline

• 1625 – the first record.^[12]
• 1688 – păgânătate and the plural păgânătăți in the Bucharest Bible.^[13]
• 1825 – the variant păgânitate in the Lexicon de la Buda.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. (dated) paganism, heathendom: the state or religion of pagans.^[4][2][1]
2. A multitude of pagans, the heathen nations;^[4][15][1] (historical) specifically the Turks, a Turkish host.^[4][15][1]
3. (obsolete) sin, a grave misdeed.^[2]
4. (popular) the time before Christianity, antiquity.^[2][15]

Related words

• păgân
• păgânime
• păgânism
• Aromanian pãngãnãtate

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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, 292
3. ^ a b 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.)
4. ^ a b c d DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 786
5. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional
6. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Densusianu, Ov. (1907–1914), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române: elementele latine (A–Putea), București
7. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 454
8. ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 947
9. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne
11. ^ Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net)
12. ^ a b c d e Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. păgânătate
13. ^ a b Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Deut 9:4
14. ^ Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Amos 1:3
15. ^ a b c d Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 3, 347