păresimi

Forms

păresimi f pl (plural only)^[1] Old and regional variants include păreasimi, păresemi, paresime and păreți; a singular păreasimă or părăsimă is rare.^[2][3] Șincai's chronicle uses the singular: „în păresima anului 1347” “in Lent of the year 1347”.^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *quaresima (“Lent”), the spoken form of quadrāgēsima (“the fortieth (day); Lent”), the feminine of quadrāgēsimus (“fortieth”).^{[1][4][5][2][6][3]} Ciorănescu cites Candrea, Pușcariu, Candrea and Densusianu, the REW and Drăganu for the Latin source.^[6][7][8] Wiktionary derives the plural from an unattested early singular, and notes the attested părăsimă.^[1]

The word survives south of the Danube: Aromanian păresîne or păreasini.^[6][4] DÉRom reconstructs a Proto-Romance etymon continued all over Romance.^[4] The cognates include Italian quaresima, Occitan caresma, French carême, Spanish cuaresma and Portuguese quaresma.^[6][8] In Wallachia the Wednesday in the middle of Lent is miez-păresimi or miez-păreți, with a form assimilated to perete;^[6] Ciorănescu compares French mi-carême.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

DÉRom dates the word from about 1560, after Tiktin.^[4] MDA2's first record is a document of 1626 printed in Hasdeu's Cuvente den bătrâni: „S-au prislăvit preoteasa Maria la păreasimi” “the priest's wife Maria died in Lent”.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

The word names the Great Lent before Easter and the forty days it lasts.^[2][5] Old texts use it for church rules: a text of 1675 forbids children to beat the toacă in Lent, and Dosoftei's lives of the saints speak of „ceale șeapte săptămâni de păreasemi” “the seven weeks of Lent”.^[3] Older dictionaries also gloss it with patruzecime.^[3][2] Șăineanu gives a second sense, the Wednesday in the middle of Lent.^[9]

Folk custom counted time by it: a mother suckles a weak child for „două parisimi” “two Lents”, and a proverb says March cannot be missing from Lent.^[3] DEX 2009 labels the word dated and popular and glosses it with Postul Mare, the Great Lent.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 1560 – first record, dated by DÉRom after Tiktin.^[4]
• 1626 – păreasimi in a document, MDA2's first record.^[2][3]
• 1675 – păreasimi in a text printed in Gaster's chrestomathy.^[3]
• 1731 – postul păreasemilor “the fast of Lent”.^[3]
• 1814 – a calendar names the third week of the Catholic Lent, a păreasimilor nemțești.^[3]
• 1825 – păresimi glossed Quadragesima in the Lexicon de la Buda.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. (dated, popular, Christianity; plural only) Lent: the Great Fast before Easter, Postul Mare.^[5][2][1]
2. The forty days that this fast lasts.^[2][3]

Related words

• patruzecime
• Aromanian păresîne
• Latin quadrāgēsima

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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, 305
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. păresimi
4. ^ a b c d e Buchi, Éva; Schweickard, Wolfgang, eds. (2008–), Dictionnaire Étymologique Roman (DÉRom), Nancy: ATILF, http://www.atilf.fr/DERom, p. s.v. */kuaˈresim-a/
5. ^ a b c d DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 789
6. ^ a b c d e f 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. păresimi
7. ^ Pușcariu, Sextil (1905), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der rumänischen Sprache I: Lateinisches Element, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 111
8. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 6911
9. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 463
10. ^ 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. 483