păzi

Forms

păzi (third-person singular present păzește, past participle păzit), 4th conjugation^[1] Older texts also have the third person singular pază and the subjunctive să pază beside păzește, să păzească.^[2][3] The imperative păzea! “look out!” is used colloquially to warn someone out of the way.^[3][2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Old Church Slavonic пазити (paziti, “to heed, watch”), from Old Church Slavonic.^[4][3][2][1] Ciorănescu cites Miklosich and Tiktin for the source, with the sense “to follow closely”, and compares Bulgarian пазя (pazja) and Slovene paziti (“to take care”).^[4] The Slavic verb continues Proto-Slavic *paziti;^[5][1] Derksen gives Serbo-Croatian paziti (“to love, pay attention”), the senses “to heed” in Slovene and “to guard, keep” in Bulgarian, and proposes Proto-Indo-European *(s)poǵ- as the root, with Old Norse spakr (“clever, quiet”) as a cognate.^[5][1]

The verb is shared with the dialects south of the Danube: Aromanian pãzescu and Megleno-Romanian păzǫs.^[4][6] Papahagi derives the Aromanian verb from Bulgarian.^[6]

The Romanian derivative păzitor passed into Bulgarian пазитор (pazitor), according to Miklosich as cited by Ciorănescu.^[4] Wiktionary thinks that Ukrainian пазити (pazyty) too may come from Romanian.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

MDA2's first record is a text of before 1521 in Hurmuzaki's document collection.^[3] Tiktin cites the verb from the Gospel of 1551–1553, at Matthew 16:6, “beware of the leaven of the Pharisees”.^[2] In the psalter Coresi printed in 1570 it has the forms păzii “I kept” and păziră “they kept”.^[7][8]

Semantic evolution

The main senses were in place in the 16th and 17th centuries: to guard someone or something so that it does not escape or come to harm, to protect, and to keep or observe a commandment, a feast or a law.^[2][9] The Bible of 1688 has Cine păzeaște gura lui și limba, păzeaște de scârbă sufletul lui “whoso keepeth his mouth and his tongue keepeth his soul from troubles” (Proverbs 21:23).^[2] The chroniclers use it for lying in wait for someone: Miron Costin writes au păzit când au ieșit împăratul la primblare “they watched for when the emperor went out for a walk”.^[2]

Regional senses of the old literary language include “to attend (church) regularly” and, in Moldavia, “to hasten, make an effort”; in Banat it meant “to cook”.^[10] The sense “to hurry” is still alive in Maramureș.^[11] The derivative păzitură “food” in Transylvania has a parallel in Bulgarian, according to Ciorănescu.^[4] A popular sense is “to keep a fire going”.^[3][12]

The exclamation Doamne păzește! “God forbid!”, at first a prayer, came to mean “heaven forbid” or “by no means”.^[12][13] Other phrases are a-și păzi gura “to hold one's tongue”, ce păzești aici? “what are you up to here?” and a o lua la trei păzește “to take to one's heels”.^[12][3]

Timeline

• before 1521 – first record, in a text of Hurmuzaki's collection.^[3]
• 1551–1553 – in the Gospel, Matthew 16:6.^[2]
• 1570 – păzii “I kept” in Coresi's psalter.^[7]
• 1649 – the forms păzesc and păzit in Mardarie's Slavonic–Romanian lexicon.^[14]
• 1688 – in the Bucharest Bible, over a hundred times.^[15]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To guard or watch over someone or something so that it is safe and does not escape or disappear: Câinele păzește curtea. “The dog guards the yard.”^[12][1]
2. (transitive and reflexive) To protect or keep from danger;^[12][3] a se păzi “to beware, to look out”: Doamne păzește! “God forbid!”; the imperative păzea! “mind out!”^[12][3]
3. (transitive) To look after, take care of;^[12] a-și păzi gura “to hold one's tongue”.^[12]
4. (transitive, dated and regional) To lie in wait for someone or for the right moment.^[12]
5. (transitive, dated and popular) To observe or keep a commandment, an engagement or a rule.^[12][16]

Word family

• pază
• păzitor
• păzitură
• paznic

Related words

• Aromanian pãzescu

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. păzi
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 316
4. ^ a b c d e 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. păzi
5. ^ a b Derksen, Rick (2008), Etymological Dictionary of the Slavic Inherited Lexicon, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 4, Leiden / Boston: Brill
6. ^ a b Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 835
7. ^ 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 16:5
8. ^ 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 77:13
9. ^ Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. păzi
10. ^ Costinescu, Mariana; Georgescu, Magdalena; Zgraon, Florentina (1987), Dicționarul limbii române literare vechi (1640–1780): termeni regionali, București: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică, p. 1, 220
11. ^ Ștef, Dorin (2011), Dicționar de regionalisme și arhaisme din Maramureș, Baia Mare: Ethnologica
12. ^ a b c d e f g h i j DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 791
13. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne
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. păzesc
15. ^ Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Facerea 3:15
16. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional