păs

Forms

păs n (plural păsuri)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin pēnsum (“weight; a load”), the neuter of the past participle of pendō (“to weigh”).^{[2][3][4][5][6][1]} Wiktionary takes it from a spoken form *pēsum.^[1][7] Ciorănescu cites Pușcariu, Candrea and Densusianu and the REW, and finds the shift from “weight” to “trouble, care” natural, citing Spanish and Bogrea.^[2] Candrea and Densusianu add that Romanian kept only the figurative sense of a weight that oppresses.^[8]

Tiktin gives a second possibility: a back-formation from Romanian păsa (“to weigh on, to matter”), the verb, which is from pēnsō (“to weigh”).^[9][2] MDA2 gives the Latin noun and compares the verb.^[4] Its Romance cognates include Italian peso, Spanish peso, Portuguese peso, Occitan pes, Catalan pes and French poids.^[2][6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin and MDA2 date the first record to 1581, in Coresi's Evanghelie cu învățătură (Carte de învățătură), in the sense “trouble, distress”.^[9][4][5]

Semantic evolution

The literal sense “weight” survives only regionally, for the stone that presses cheese or cabbage in a tub, as in Hațeg.^[5][10][4] An old phrase, păs pământului, meant “countless”: Dionisie Eclesiarhul's chronicle has armies setting out „păs pământului, pe mare și pe uscat” “numberless, by sea and by land”.^[5]

The common sense is figurative: a heavy sorrow that one needs to tell someone, a care, a hardship.^[5][4] Radu Greceanu writes of a matter that had come „la mare și greu păs” “to great and heavy straits”.^[5] Tiktin quotes Anton Pann's n-avea păs “he did not care” and Ghica's păsurile țării “the grievances of the country”.^[9] The phrase fără păs “without care, indifferent” is used by Delavrancea and Eminescu.^[11][9] Regionally the word also means a wish (Banat), an illness and asthma.^[4][12]

Timeline

• 1581 – păs “trouble” in Coresi's Evanghelie cu învățătură, the first record.^[9][4]
• 1813 – la păsul meu “in my need”, in a document.^[5]
• 1886 – Barcianu glosses păs “Kummer, Anliegen”.^[13]
• 1939 – Scriban records the literal “weight” for pressing cheese in Hațeg.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. (popular) grief, trouble; suffering, pain, especially of the mind: Fiecare își știe păsul.^[3][4][1]
2. care, worry; a difficult situation, an impas.^[3][4]
3. (regional) A weight, usually a stone, used to press cheese or cabbage in a tub.^[4][5]
4. (regional) An illness; specifically asthma.^[4][12]

Word family

• păsa
• nepăsare
• nepăsător

Related words

• apăsa
• Latin pēnsum

Usage notes

The phrase fără păs means “carefree, indifferent”, and a nu avea păs de ceva “not to care about something”, like a nu-i păsa with the verb.^[3][4] Scriban also lists păs or pes as a present form of the verb păsa.^[10]

References

1. ^ a b c d 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. păs
3. ^ a b c d DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 789
4. ^ 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, 307
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. păs
6. ^ a b Pușcariu, Sextil (1905), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der rumänischen Sprache I: Lateinisches Element, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 112
7. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 6394
8. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Densusianu, Ov. (1907–1914), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române: elementele latine (A–Putea), București
9. ^ 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. păs
10. ^ a b c Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 952
11. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 3, 359
12. ^ a b Bulgăr, Gheorghe; Constantinescu-Dobridor, Gheorghe (2002), Dicționar de arhaisme și regionalisme, 2 vols., București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. păs
13. ^ Barcianu, Sava Popovici (1886), Dicționar român-germân și germân-român, revised by D. P. Barcianu, part I: român-germân, Sibiu: Institut tipografic, p. 460