paos

Forms

paos n (plural paosuri)^[1] A text of 1692 has the plural pausele “the offerings for the dead”.^[2]

Etymology

It is probably inherited from Vulgar Latin *pausum (“rest”), formed on Latin pausō (“to cease, rest”), which is formed on pausa (“pause”).^{[3][4][5][6][1]} A neuter pausum (“respite”) is attested once, in an African inscription.^[7] Ciorănescu and Tiktin compare repaus “rest”, the same word with a prefix.^[3][4] It survives south of the Danube as Aromanian pafsă (“end”).^[3] pauză is its doublet, borrowed from French pause.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first records are in Dosoftei, which Tiktin dates to 1683: in his lives of the saints the devil offers a martyr on the cross „un paos plin de miere și de lapte” “a libation full of honey and milk”, and in his Joel the people leave behind them „jărtvă și paos” “a sacrifice and a libation” for the Lord.^[4][2]

Semantic evolution

From “rest” the word passed to the rest of the dead: it names the wine, mixed with oil or honey, that the priest pours in the form of a cross over the body before burial, and the bread, food and candle given as alms for the soul.^[3][4][5] Mourners taste the colivă and the paos and say să-i fie paos “may it be his rest”.^[4] The old senses “rest” and “quiet” survive in regional speech in northern Transylvania.^[2][6]

Regional senses vary: in Transylvania it is the consecrated wine of the wedding service, or a jug of water given as alms or set at a crossroads for travellers in memory of the dead; elsewhere it is a spiral candle as long as the dead person, which burns while the body is in the house.^[6][8][9] The 19th-century dictionaries render it “sacrificial wine”: vinum sacrificale in the Lexicon de la Buda, Opferwein in Barcianu.^[10][11]

Timeline

• 1683 – paos “libation” in Dosoftei.^[4]
• 1692 – the plural pausele “the offerings for the dead”.^[2]
• 1825 – Paosu “sacrificial wine” in the Lexicon de la Buda.^[10]
• 1886 – Opferwein in Barcianu's dictionary.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. (rare, Orthodox Christianity) An offering for the dead, of wine, bread and food given as alms.^[5][6][1]
2. (popular) The wine, holy oil or holy water with which the priest sprinkles the dead before burial.^[5][6]
3. (regional) A long spiral candle of pure wax that burns beside the dead.^[6][9]
4. (archaic) Rest, quiet.^[6][1]

Related words

• repaus
• pauză
• răposa

Usage notes

A-i face paosul is to perform the sprinkling of the dead, and a-i mânca paosul to eat someone's funeral alms.^[6] The variant paus is common in Moldavia and Transylvania, and Maramureș has paust.^[12][13]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Costinescu, Mariana; Georgescu, Magdalena; Zgraon, Florentina (1987), Dicționarul limbii române literare vechi (1640–1780): termeni regionali, București: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică, p. 1, 217
3. ^ 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. paos
4. ^ a b c d e f Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. páos
5. ^ a b c d DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1, 769
6. ^ 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, 258
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. pausum
8. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 3, 315
9. ^ a b Bulgăr, Gheorghe; Constantinescu-Dobridor, Gheorghe (2002), Dicționar de arhaisme și regionalisme, 2 vols., București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. paos
10. ^ 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.), p. 481
11. ^ a b Barcianu, Sava Popovici (1886), Dicționar român-germân și germân-român, revised by D. P. Barcianu, part I: român-germân, Sibiu: Institut tipografic, p. 454
12. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1, 944
13. ^ Ștef, Dorin (2021), Dicționar de regionalisme și arhaisme din județul Maramureș, 3rd ed., Baia Mare, p. s.v. páos