prea

Etymology

Most dictionaries take it as borrowed from Old Church Slavonic прѣ (prě, “very, over”), the intensifying prefix of Old Church Slavonic.^{[2][3][4][5][1][6]} The Slavonic prefix is the South Slavic form of Proto-Slavic *per (“through, over, very”), which Vasmer compares with Latin permagnus and Greek περικαλλής (perikallḗs, “very beautiful”).^[7][8]

Ciorănescu derives it instead from Latin prae (“before”), following Densusianu, Pușcariu, Candrea and the REW, and finds the Slavonic etymology unsatisfactory in meaning; he grants, however, that the prefix prea- “very” of words such as preacurat comes from Slavonic.^[9] Pușcariu, Candrea and Densusianu and the REW see a Latin word influenced by the Slavonic one.^[10][11][12] Aromanian has pri.^[10][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first records are in the 16th-century psalters: the Psaltirea Voronețeană (c. 1551–1558) has it in Psalm 150:2, and Tiktin cites the same verse from the Psaltirea Scheiană.^[13][5] MDA2 dates it to Coresi's homilies of 1581, where it stands before a verb: prea amărim și mintem pre Dumnezeu “we greatly anger God and lie to him”.^[3][4] In the old language it meant “very, greatly”.^[5][3]

Semantic evolution

Old texts used it as an absolute superlative, “very, most”: era prea bune “they were very good” in an old version of Genesis 1:31, and it survives in the forms of address Prea Înălțate Doamne “Most Serene Prince” and Preasfinția Sa.^[5][6] In translations from Slavonic it rendered Slavonic compounds with prě-, as in preacântat “highly praised” in the Psaltirea Scheiană.^[5][9]

The modern sense is “too, excessively” (prea cald “too hot”).^[2][3] With a negation it softens a statement: nu prea “not very, hardly”.^[2][4] In north-eastern Oltenia it means “rather, about”, like cam.^[3][1]

Timeline

• c. 1551–1558 – the Psaltirea Voronețeană, the first record.^[13]
• c. 1573–1578 – the Psaltirea Scheiană.^[5][14]
• 1581 – Coresi's homilies, the first record in MDA2.^[3][4]
• 1649 – Mardarie's Slavonic–Romanian lexicon, glossing Slavonic words with prě-.^[15]
• 1801 – Klein's dictionary renders it with Latin valde, admodum and nimis.^[16]
• 1825 – the Lexicon de la Buda gives Latin valde, nimis and German sehr, zu.^[17]

Meanings

Adverb

1. too, more than necessary, excessively: Supa e prea sărată.^[2][1]
2. (with a negation) Not very, not much, hardly: Nu prea am timp.^[2][3][1]
3. (dated) very, most, highly: Prea Înălțate Doamne.^[5][1]
4. (regional, Oltenia) Rather, approximately.^[3][1]
5. In phrases: prea de tot “too much, beyond all limits”;^[18] nici prea-prea, nici foarte-foarte “so-so”.^[2]

Word family

• preacurat
• preacuvios
• preamări
• preasfânt

Related words

• Old Church Slavonic прѣ (prě)
• Latin prae

Usage notes

Moldavian speech has the variant pre.^[9] The element prea- forms learned words, most of them of the church language: preamări “to glorify”, preacuvios “most reverend”.^[2][9]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. 862
3. ^ 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, 506
4. ^ a b c d Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. prea
5. ^ a b c d e f g Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. prea
6. ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1033
7. ^ Derksen, Rick (2008), Etymological Dictionary of the Slavic Inherited Lexicon, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 4, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 395
8. ^ Vasmer, Max (1964–1973), Ètimologičeskij slovar' russkogo jazyka, transl. and suppl. by O. N. Trubačev, 4 vols., Moskva: Progress
9. ^ 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. prea
10. ^ a b Pușcariu, Sextil (1905), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der rumänischen Sprache I: Lateinisches Element, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 120
11. ^ a b Candrea, I.-A.; Densusianu, Ov. (1907–1914), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române: elementele latine (A–Putea), București
12. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 6707
13. ^ 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 150:2
14. ^ 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 9:30
15. ^ 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. prea
16. ^ Gáldi, László (ed.) (1944), Samuel Klein: Dictionarium valachico-latinum. Primul dicționar al limbii române, Budapest: Királyi Magyar Pázmány Péter Tudományegyetemi Román Intézet (Klein's dictionary of 1801, with Gáldi's etymological study), p. 424
17. ^ 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. 535
18. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2011–), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române (DELR), vol. I: A–B (2011), vol. II: C (2015–2018), București: Editura Academiei Române; continued online at delr.lingv.ro, p. s.v. cât