păi

Forms

păi^[1] A variant poi occurs in Creangă: „Poi dă, măi femeie, tot ești tu bisericoasă de s-a dus vestea!” “Well now, woman, you are so churchy that word of it has spread!”^[2][3]

Etymology

Its origin is disputed.^[4][3] DELR, following Tiktin, Candrea–Densusianu and the DLR, takes it as more probably a shortening from Romanian apoi (“then, afterwards”), with its variant apăi.^[4] The DEX and Tiktin list it as a variant of that adverb.^[5][6] Ciorănescu, Pușcariu and Meyer-Lübke instead derive it directly inherited from Latin post (“after, behind”), the word that forms that adverb with ad (“to”).^[3][7][4][1] Ciorănescu notes that two senses of the adverb merge completely with this word.^[8]

The REW lists it with the other Romance continuations of the Latin word: Italian poi, Spanish pues and Portuguese pos.^[7] Wiktionary adds pois.^[1] French puis comes from a Vulgar Latin derivative of it.^[9]

Semantic evolution

In the familiar language păi competes with apoi and often works as an interjection.^[2] It strengthens a statement or agreement, a rhetorical question or an invitation; followed by dă or de it expresses hesitation or a shrug, and followed by cum or bine surprise.^[2] MDA2 records the same reply-opening use under apoi, with dă or de introducing an evasive or excusing answer.^[10]

Meanings

Interjection

1. well: opens a reply or a remark;^[2][1] Păi, ce să-i faci? “Well, what can you do?”^[2][1]
2. of course, certainly: Păi da! “Of course!”^[2][1]
3. why: strengthens a question or expresses surprise or doubt: Păi cum așa? “Why, how come?”^[2][1]
4. then, so: in that case.^[3][1]

Word family

• d-apăi

Related words

• apoi
• Latin post

Usage notes

The dictionaries of the standard language give păi under apoi, as its popular variant together with poi.^[11]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 3, 348
3. ^ 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. păi
4. ^ a b c Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2011–), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române (DELR), vol. I: A–B (2011), vol. II: C (2015–2018), București: Editura Academiei Române; continued online at delr.lingv.ro, p. s.v. apoi
5. ^ DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 786
6. ^ Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. păi
7. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 6684
8. ^ 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. apoi
9. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 81
11. ^ DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 54