său

Forms

său m or n (feminine singular sa, masculine plural săi, feminine/neuter plural sale)^[1] After nouns of kinship it is used in popular and familiar speech as an enclitic -so, -su or -si, as in tată-său “his father”.^[2][3] An old variant săiși is recorded.^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *seus, which continues Latin suus (“his, her, its own”).^[4][3][2][1] The change of the Latin stem is explained in two ways.^[4] Densusianu, Pușcariu, Candrea and the REW took the Latin word to have been dissimilated to *sous;^[4] Ciorănescu, with Graur and Rosetti, thinks the analogy of meus (“my”), the source of meu, more likely.^[4] Wiktionary gives both forms.^[1] The Latin word goes back to Proto-Indo-European *sewos, from *swé (“self”).^[1]

The possessive survives in all four branches: Aromanian seu (also su), Megleno-Romanian seu and Istro-Romanian seu (feminine sę).^[4] The Romance languages kept the same Latin word: Italian suo, French son, Spanish suyo and Portuguese seu.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word is used in the Hurmuzaki Psalter of the early 16th century, the oldest of the Romanian psalters, together with its forms sa, săi and sale.^[6] MDA2 gives its first record from the Codicele Voronețean, of about 1563–1583.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The word refers back to the person spoken about: as an adjective it marks what belongs to that person, and as a pronoun preceded by the article al, a, ai, ale it stands for the possessed object as well.^[2][3] In the old language it could also refer to several possessors, which only lor can do today;^[7] Tiktin quotes Coresi's psalter: „Ascuțiră limba sa ca a șarpelui” “they sharpened their tongue like a serpent's” (Psalm 139:3).^[7] In the third person singular it competes with the genitives lui and ei.^[7][8]

As a pronoun it took on special senses: in the masculine plural ai săi “his or her family, relatives, friends”, in the masculine singular al său “her husband”, and in the feminine plural ale sale “his or her affairs, habits, sayings”.^[2][3] The phrase a se ține de ale sale means to mind one's own business.^[3]

Timeline

• early 16th century – său, sa, săi and sale in the Hurmuzaki Psalter.^[6]
• c. 1563–1583 – the first record MDA2 gives, in the Codicele Voronețean.^[3]
• 1570 – Coresi's psalter uses sa for several possessors: „Ascuțiră limba sa ca a șarpelui”.^[7]
• 1688 – său is used about 275 times in the Bucharest Bible.^[9]

Meanings

Determiner

1. his, her, its: belonging to the person or thing spoken about: câinele său “his (or her) dog”.^[2][1]
2. Showing kinship or another tie with the person spoken about: mama sa “his (or her) mother”.^[2]
3. Said, done or felt by the person spoken about: teama sa “his (or her) fear”.^[2]

Pronoun

1. (preceded by al, a, ai, ale) His, hers: the thing belonging to the person spoken about: Mașina mea e mai veche decât a sa.^[2][1]
2. (masculine plural, ai săi) His or her family, relatives or friends;^[2][3] (masculine singular, al său) her husband.^[2][3]
3. (feminine plural, ale sale) His or her affairs, habits or sayings.^[2][3]

Usage notes

The popular phrase a rămâne (sau a fi) pe-a sa means “to have it one's own way”.^[2] A separate noun său is a variant spelling of seu “tallow”, from Latin sebum.^[10][11][12]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. 982
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 780
4. ^ a b c d e 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. său
5. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 8493
6. ^ a b Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Ungureanu, Mădălina; Moruz, Alexandru et al., roPsalt: Re-evaluating the Sixteenth Century Romanian Psalters (aligned corpus), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. Ps 2:5
7. ^ 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. meu
8. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 4, 34
9. ^ Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Genesis 4:8
10. ^ Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. său
11. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 781
12. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 1, 569