puști

Forms

puști m (plural puști)^[1] The variant pușchi is common in the 19th century: Creangă has „Măi pușchiule!” “hey, kid!”.^[2][3] MDA2 also records an old form pust.^[4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ottoman Turkish پوشت (puşt, “debauched”).^[5][4][2][1] DEX 2009 and NODEX only compare the Turkish word, and Tiktin calls the source probable.^[6][7][8] The Turkish word, whose first sense was a catamite, is from Persian پشت (pušt, “back, backside”).^[9][10]

The word spread through the Balkans: it survives south of the Danube as Aromanian puștu and Megleno-Romanian pușt,^[11][12][13] and the same Turkish word gave Modern Greek πούστης (poústis), Bulgarian пущ (pušt), Albanian pusht and Serbo-Croatian pušt.^[5][9] Cihac took the Romanian word from Serbian, believing it a genuine Slavic word.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Ion Neculce's chronicle (about 1743), in the old sense of a sultan's catamite: „Împăratul cel mazil i-au fost puștu lui” “the deposed emperor had been his minion”.^[8][2][4]

Semantic evolution

The insulting sense “debauched youth, catamite” has almost disappeared;^[5][8] Ciorănescu notes that it can still be felt in Alecsandri, who uses pușchi for a cheeky young rascal.^[5][8] In folk songs pușchi is a lover or husband: „Mi-a venit pușchiul beat” “my lover has come home drunk”.^[8][2] From “rascal” the word moved to the familiar “boy, kid”, the only sense DEX gives today.^[2][6] MDA2 also records a regional sense, a short man.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 1743 – first record, in Neculce's chronicle, in the sense “catamite”.^[8][4]
• 19th century – pușchi “young rascal” in Alecsandri's plays.^[8][5]
• 19th century – pușchiul “lover” in folk songs collected by Teodorescu.^[8][2]
• 19th century – pușchi “kid” in Creangă and Ispirescu.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (colloquial) A young boy, a kid; a mischievous lad.^[6][1]
2. (dated, in the form pușchi) A lover.^[2][1]
3. (obsolete) A corrupt young man; a catamite.^[4][2]

Word family

• puștan
• puștancă
• puștime

References

1. ^ a b c d 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. puști
3. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 3, 638
4. ^ 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, 608
5. ^ 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. puști
6. ^ a b c DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 901
7. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. puști
8. ^ a b c d e f g h Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. puști
9. ^ a b Georgiev, Vladimir I. et al. (eds.) (1971–), Bălgarski etimologičen rečnik, Sofija: Izdatelstvo na Bălgarskata akademija na naukite, p. 6, 23
10. ^ Nişanyan, Sevan, Nişanyan Sözlük: Çağdaş Türkçenin Etimolojisi (online edition)
11. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 900
12. ^ 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, p. 2, 158
13. ^ Capidan, Theodor (1935), Meglenoromânii III: Dicționar meglenoromân, București: Academia Română, p. 242