peste

Forms

peste (+accusative)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Romanian pre + spre, with pre the old form of pe “on”.^[2][3][4][1] The old forms show the steps: prespre, then preste and pestre, and finally the modern form; the DLR explains the change by successive dissimilations.^[5][6][7] DER, after Cipariu, also allows a direct continuation of Latin per (“through”) super (“above”), and with Pascu and Densusianu a confusion with the same preposition followed by extra (“outside”).^[5][1]

The word survives south of the Danube: Aromanian priste or piste, and Megleno-Romanian priste.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The oldest form, prespre, is in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki of the early 16th century, at Psalm 41:10, and in the later psalters.^[8] MDA2 cites the Codicele Voronețean, and Tiktin the Psaltirea Scheiană, for peste and preste.^[2][4] The sense is “over, above”.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The spatial sense “over, across, above” is the oldest; the time senses “after, in” (peste un an) and “during” and the sense “more than” grew from it.^[3][4] “Over” in the sense of rule is old: the Bucharest Bible of 1688 has „am fost împărat preste Israil” “I was king over Israel”.^[4] Documents of 1601 and 1621 use prespre and preste for “against” someone's word.^[4] The form preste lasted into the 19th century and is still heard in Transylvania.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 1500–1520 – prespre in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki, Psalm 41:10, the first record.^[8]
• c. 1563–1583 – in the Codicele Voronețean.^[2]
• 1589 – preste in Coresi's psalter, Psalm 8:1.^[9]
• 1601 – prespre zisa dumni-meale “against my lord's word” in a document.^[4]
• 1688 – preste Israil “over Israel” in the Bucharest Bible.^[4]

Meanings

Preposition

1. over, onto, on top of; across a surface: peste tot “everywhere”.^[3][2][1]
2. above; beyond, to the other side of: a trecut peste munți “he crossed the mountains”.^[3]
3. (of time) After, in: peste o săptămână “in a week”; during: peste zi “during the day”.^[3]
4. More than: peste o sută de oameni; between a repeated noun, one after another: necaz peste necaz.^[3]
5. Over, upon, of rule or authority: stăpân peste moșie “master over the estate”.^[3][7]

Related words

• pe
• spre

Usage notes

Peste drum means “across the street, opposite”.^[10][4] MDA2 lists many regional variants, among them preste, pestre, pește and pista.^[2] It is not the same word as pește “fish”.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 358
3. ^ a b c d e f g DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 809
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. peste
5. ^ a b c 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. peste
6. ^ Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. peste
7. ^ a b c Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 971
8. ^ 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 41:10
9. ^ 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 8:1
10. ^ DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 333