proaspăt

Forms

proaspăt m or n (feminine singular proaspătă, masculine plural proaspeți, feminine/neuter plural proaspete)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek πρόσφατος (prósphatos, “fresh, recent”).^{[2][3][4][5][6][1]} Wiktionary suggests it may have come through a regional Vulgar Latin *prospetus, and Pascu reconstructs a Latin *prospitus for the Aromanian form.^[1][7] Șăineanu took it from Byzantine Greek and noted that the Greek word meant literally “lately slain”, of animals, a sense Romanian generalized.^[8] The Greek adjective is usually explained from φατός (phatós, “slain”), first a hunting or fishing word for freshly killed game, though Beekes doubts the analysis of its first part.^[1][9]

It survives in all four branches: Aromanian proaspit, Megleno-Romanian proaspit and Istro-Romanian proaspăt.^[2][10][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is in Grigore Ureche's chronicle of Moldavia, dated 1640.^[4][3] The DLR's first quotation, from Dosoftei, is about fresh milk.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The core sense is of food: prepared or gathered recently, not yet preserved, and of plants freshly picked.^[6][5] From food it spread to water just brought from the spring, and so cool, and to clean, unspoilt air.^[6][12] Figuratively it describes youth and vigour: a fresh face, fresh troops who have not yet fought.^[6][13] It also means “recent, new”, of news or events, and of people who have only lately entered a state, as in proaspăt căsătorit “newly married”.^[6][4]

The derivatives are prospătură “fresh food”, prospețime “freshness” and the verb împrospăta “to refresh”.^[2]

Timeline

• 1640 – in Grigore Ureche's chronicle of Moldavia.^[4]
• 17th century – fresh milk in Dosoftei, the DLR's first quotation.^[5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (of food) fresh: recently prepared, gathered or obtained; not preserved;^[12] (of plants) freshly picked, not wilted.^[6][3]
2. (figurative) Young, tender; showing or keeping brightness, vitality and youth.^[6]
3. recent, new;^[12] (of people) having been in a state only a short time: un absolvent proaspăt.^[6][3]
4. (of air) Clean, unpolluted;^[12] (of water) freshly drawn from the source, good to drink; by extension, cool.^[6][12]
5. (figurative) Pure, unsullied.^[6]
6. Rested, with renewed strength: trupe proaspete.^[6][13]

Word family

• prospătură
• împrospăta
• prospețime

Related words

• Aromanian proaspit

Usage notes

MDA2 records regional and older variants such as proaspăd, proaspâd, proaspet and prospăt.^[3] The regional phrase din proaspăt means “recently”.^[6]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. proaspăt
3. ^ a b c d e Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 555
4. ^ a b c d Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. proáspăt
5. ^ a b c d Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. proáspăt
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 878
7. ^ Pascu, Giorge (1925), Dictionnaire étymologique macédoroumain, 2 vols. (I: Les éléments latins et romans; II: Les éléments grecs, turcs, slaves, albanais, germaniques, magyars, néologismes, créations immédiates, obscurs), Iași: Cultura Națională
8. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 514
9. ^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill
10. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne
11. ^ Capidan, Theodor (1935), Meglenoromânii III: Dicționar meglenoromân, București: Academia Română
12. ^ a b c d e Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional
13. ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1055