razna

Forms

razna (adverb)^[1] MDA2 records the rare variants arazna and raznă;^[2][3][4] Tiktin finds arazna in Ghica, and Scriban calls it western.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Old Church Slavonic разьно (razĭno, “differently, diversely”), as DEX, MDA2, Tiktin, the DLR and Wiktionary state.^{[1][2][3][5][6]} The Slavonic adverb, recorded in the Codex Suprasliensis, translates Ancient Greek διαφόρως (diaphórōs).^[7][8] Its modern relatives include Bulgarian разен (razen, “various”) and Russian разный (raznyj, “different”).^[9]

Scriban relates the Slavonic word to a prefix that corresponds to Romanian des-, and compares răzleț.^[4] Șăineanu took it from Russian.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Lexicon de la Buda of 1825, which gives ámblu rasnă “I wander about” and glosses it with Latin vagor and erro.^[11][2][3]

Semantic evolution

From the Slavonic sense “differently, separately” Romanian kept the idea of going apart from the others or from the road.^[3][5] Pann wrote of someone who goes razna pe drumuri “wandering about the roads”, and Tiktin records a se ține razna “to keep apart from the others”, used of a young man at a village dance.^[5][3] A o lua razna, first “to go off across the fields”, came to mean “to go astray” in thought or behaviour.^[3][1]

Timeline

• 1825 – rasnă in the Lexicon de la Buda.^[11][2]
• 1893–1895 – Damé glosses a se ține razna “to keep apart”.^[12]

Meanings

Adverb

1. (with verbs of motion) astray, aimlessly, without regard to road or direction.^[1][6]
2. Apart, at some distance from something; far off.^[1][3]

Related words

• răzleț

Usage notes

A o lua razna means to wander off aimlessly, and figuratively to go astray, to talk nonsense or to lose one's reason.^[1][2][13]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 914
2. ^ 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, 628
3. ^ 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. razna
4. ^ a b c Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1, 1090
5. ^ a b c Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. razna
6. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
7. ^ Kurz, Josef; Hauptová, Zoe (eds.) (1958–1997), Slovník jazyka staroslověnského / Lexicon linguae palaeoslovenicae, 4 vols. + supplements, Praha: Academia; digital ed. gorazd.org
8. ^ Vasmer, Max (1964–1973), Ètimologičeskij slovar' russkogo jazyka, transl. and suppl. by O. N. Trubačev, 4 vols., Moskva: Progress
9. ^ Georgiev, Vladimir I. et al. (eds.) (1971–), Bălgarski etimologičen rečnik, Sofija: Izdatelstvo na Bălgarskata akademija na naukite, p. 6, 153
10. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 1, 537
11. ^ 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. 576
12. ^ Damé, Frédéric (1893–1895), Nouveau dictionnaire roumain-français, 4 vols., Bucarest: Imprimerie de l'État, p. 2, s.v. razna
13. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. razna