priveliște

Forms

priveliște f (plural priveliști)^[1] Dosoftei writes prăviriște: „în mijlocul teatrului adecă prăviriștii” “in the middle of the theatre, that is, of the spectacle-place”.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from Romanian priveală + -iște, the base meaning “looking, view” and being itself a derivative of privi “to look”.^[4][3][5][1] Tiktin relates it to the same base or to privire and compares a Russian word for “spectacle” formed the same way.^[2] Scriban too compares Slavic nouns with the same suffix meaning “spectacle”, and explains Dosoftei's variant as a formation on the old noun prăvire, modelled on Latin spectāculum.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Dosoftei's Viața și petrecerea sfinților (Iași, 1682–1686), in the form prăviriște and with the sense “public spectacle, the place where one is watched”: a martyr was stripped „naintea prăviriștii giudecății” “before the gaze of the court”, and a saint had grown up „în mimuri… și la prăviriști” “among mimes and at shows”.^[3][5][2]

Semantic evolution

In the old language the word meant “spectacle, show” and “theatre, stage”: Klein's dictionary (1801) translates it with Latin spectaculum and theatrum, and the Buda Lexicon (1825) gives “theatre, stage”.^[7][8] It also meant the act of looking and the field of view; the phrase în priveliște “in public view” is recorded from the Mineiul of 1776 and is still used, while the senses “gaze” and “field of view” are now rare.^[5][3]

From “sight, spectacle” came the two modern senses: a striking or unusual sight that meets the eye (Mumuleanu's tristă și duioasă priveliște “a sad and touching sight”) and a landscape seen in one view, as in Vlahuță's valley that opens on an unexpected view.^[2][9] The landscape sense is the first one in modern dictionaries.^[4] Creangă uses the word in the regional sense “outlook, view of the world”.^[5] Scriban notes the stress privelíște in the west.^[6]

Timeline

• 1682–1686 – prăviriște “spectacle, theatre” in Dosoftei's lives of the saints.^[3][2]
• 1776 – în privealiște “in public view” in the Mineiul.^[5]
• 1801 – priveliște “spectacle, theatre” in Klein's dictionary.^[7]
• 1825 – “theatre, stage” in the Buda Lexicon.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A view, a landscape: a stretch of nature seen at one glance.^[4][3]
2. A sight, a spectacle: something interesting or unusual that presents itself to the eyes.^[4][9]
3. (dated) The act of looking;^[4][3] în priveliște “in public view, in the open”.^[4][3]

Related words

• priveală
• privi
• privire

Usage notes

The plural is priveliști.^[3] Old variants are privealiște and Dosoftei's prăviriște.^[3][5]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. priveliște
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 552
4. ^ a b c d e f DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 878
5. ^ a b c d e f Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. priveliște
6. ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1, 1054
7. ^ a b 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. 426
8. ^ 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. 551
9. ^ a b Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 3, 583