prieten

Forms

prieten m (plural prieteni, feminine equivalent prietenă)^[1] Old texts have priiatin and priiatel: „Avea Mihail priatin bun pre Murlag” “Mihail had a good friend in Murlag” (Moxa).^[2] A letter of about 1600 has „la priiatinii noștri” “to our friends”.^[2] Regional forms are prietin in Moldavia, pretin in Transylvania and preten in Oltenia.^[3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Old Church Slavonic приꙗтель (prijatelĭ, “friend”).^[3][4][5][1] MDA2 and DLR name Bulgarian приятен (prijaten) instead, with the Slavonic word beside it.^[6][2] The Slavonic noun goes back to Proto-Slavic *prijateľь, formed from *prijati (“to favour, please”).^[1][7]

The Romanian ⟨n⟩ in place of the Slavonic ⟨l⟩ needs explaining.^[3] Tiktin explains it by analogy with words like ieftin and asemenea;^[7] Ciorănescu rather thinks of a confusion with the Slavonic adjective for “pleasant”.^[5][3] The cognates include Serbo-Croatian prijatelj and Polish przyjaciel.^[3][7] Aromanian priiatil is a separate borrowing from Bulgarian.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is a Gospel text of 1551–1553, at Matthew 24:10.^[5] MDA2 cites the Psaltirea Scheiană.^[6] The sense was “friend”, and the old letters also use it for an ally.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Besides a friend, the word came to mean an ally, a lover and, in the regional language, an associate or a fellow traveller.^[6][2] In Banat and Transylvania it could mean a relative: the Lexicon Marsilianum glosses pretien with Latin consanguineus.^[8][6]

The negative neprieten “enemy” appears in the chroniclers, as in Miron Costin.^[5] In slang the plural was used ironically for the Russians or Soviets.^[9]

Timeline

• 1551-1553 – in a Gospel text, Matthew 24:10, the first record.^[5]
• c. 1573-1578 – in the Psaltirea Scheiană.^[6]
• c. 1600 – priiatinii in a letter to Bistrița.^[2]
• 1629 – priiatel in a letter.^[2]
• 1639 – priiatin in the Paraclis.^[2]
• 1688 – prieten in the Bucharest Bible.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. A friend: a person bound to another by affection, trust and respect, or by shared ideas.^[4][1]
2. A boyfriend or lover.^[4][1]
3. An ally.^[6][2]
4. (regional, Transylvania) A relative.^[6]

Word family

• prietenesc
• prietenește
• prietenie
• prietenos
• prieteșug
• împrieteni
• neprieten

Related words

• amic
• Old Church Slavonic приꙗтель (prijatelĭ)

Usage notes

The feminine is prietenă.^[4][5]

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 h i Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. prieten
3. ^ a b c d e f 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. prieten
4. ^ a b c d DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 874
5. ^ 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. prieten
6. ^ a b c d e f g Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 536
7. ^ a b c Derksen, Rick (2008), Etymological Dictionary of the Slavic Inherited Lexicon, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 4, Leiden / Boston: Brill
8. ^ Costinescu, Mariana; Georgescu, Magdalena; Zgraon, Florentina (1987), Dicționarul limbii române literare vechi (1640–1780): termeni regionali, București: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică, p. 1, 238
9. ^ Volceanov, George (2007), Dicționar de argou al limbii române, București: Niculescu, p. s.v. prieten
10. ^ Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Sirach 19:15