rai

Forms

rai n (plural raiuri)^[1] Old texts often write raiu: „Mai bine slugă în tindă de raiu, Decât pe tronul iadului craiu!” “better a servant in the porch of paradise than king on the throne of hell!” (Budai-Deleanu).^[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Old Church Slavonic рай (raj, “paradise”), a word of the Slavonic church language.^[3][4][5][1] Ciorănescu compares the forms of the living Slavic languages, Bulgarian рай (raj), Serbo-Croatian raj and Russian рай (raj).^[6][7] In the Gospels the Slavonic word renders Ancient Greek παράδεισος (parádeisos).^[8]

It continues Proto-Slavic *rajь, probably a borrowing from an Iranian language, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *reh₁ís (“wealth, goods”).^[1] Vasmer compares Avestan and Sanskrit words for “wealth, happiness”.^[9]

The word is also found in Megleno-Romanian rai, which Capidan takes from Bulgarian.^[6][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is Coresi's Tetraevanghel of 1561, in Christ's words to the thief: “today you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43).^[4] Coresi's Cazania of 1581 speaks of the trees that grew in paradise, which Adam was told he could eat from; this is MDA2's first record.^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

The religious sense, the place where the souls of the righteous live after death, and the Garden of Eden, has stayed the core of the word.^[5][3] Figuratively it is a very beautiful place in nature, a place where one feels completely happy, and happiness itself.^[5][3] Gură de rai is a lovely spot, Scriban's “an opening onto a level pasture”.^[3][7]

In folk use rai also names the food given as alms at a funeral.^[6][4][3] Proverbs use the word: dar din dar se face rai “gift from gift makes paradise”, said when someone passes on a gift, and bătaia e ruptă din rai “a beating is torn from paradise”, i.e. punishment works.^[4][11][3] Iarba raiului is tansy (Tanacetum vulgare), a name Tiktin thinks the author of his source probably coined after the German one.^[4][3]

Timeline

• 1561 – rai in Coresi's Tetraevanghel (Luke 23:43), the first record.^[4]
• 1550–1600 – dulceața raiului “the sweetness of paradise” in a 16th-century text.^[2]
• 1581 – Coresi's Cazania, MDA2's first record.^[3]
• 1660 – raiul glossing Slavonic рай (raj) in a Slavonic–Romanian lexicon.^[12]
• 1688 – raiul and raiului in the Bucharest Bible (Genesis 3:8, Isaiah 51:3).^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. paradise, heaven: in religious belief, the place of bliss where the souls of the righteous go after death; also the Garden of Eden.^[5][3][1]
2. (figurative) A very beautiful place in nature.^[5][3]
3. (figurative) A place where one feels perfectly happy; great happiness.^[5][3]
4. (regional) Food given as alms at a funeral.^[6][4][3]

Related words

• paradis
• cer
• eden
• iad

Usage notes

DEX has a second word rai (plural raiuri), a nautical term for a grooved wooden or metal wheel over which a hemp or steel rope runs; its origin is unknown.^[5][3] MDA2 also records a regional rai “greenhouse”, from German Reihe.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. rai
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 621
4. ^ 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. rai
5. ^ 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. 910
6. ^ 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. rai
7. ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1086
8. ^ Kurz, Josef; Hauptová, Zoe (eds.) (1958–1997), Slovník jazyka staroslověnského / Lexicon linguae palaeoslovenicae, 4 vols. + supplements, Praha: Academia; digital ed. gorazd.org
9. ^ Vasmer, Max (1964–1973), Ètimologičeskij slovar' russkogo jazyka, transl. and suppl. by O. N. Trubačev, 4 vols., Moskva: Progress
10. ^ Capidan, Theodor (1935), Meglenoromânii III: Dicționar meglenoromân, București: Academia Română, p. 244
11. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 3, 651
12. ^ 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. raiul
13. ^ Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Genesis 3:8