saț

Forms

saț n (uncountable)^[1] The older form sațiu is the one of the 16th-century psalters: „și deade loru cerearea loru, tremese sațiu în sufletele lor” “and he gave them their request, he sent fullness into their souls” (Psalm 105:15).^[2][3] MDA2 records the plurals sațiuri and the old sații.^[4]

Etymology

Ciorănescu takes it as inherited from Latin satis (“enough”), through an unattested *satius that Meillet considered necessary to explain satietās, and compares Old French sez (“abundance”).^[5] Pușcariu, DEX and Scriban give Vulgar Latin *satium, and Pușcariu compares a northern Sardinian form.^[6][7][8] Wiktionary derives this form from the same adverb.^[1] The DLR, NODEX and MDA2 give Latin satiēs (“sufficiency, satiety”) instead.^[9][10][4] Tiktin called it an obscure formation from satiō (“to satisfy”).^[2]

The Latin adverb goes back to Proto-Indo-European *séh₂tis (“satiation, satisfaction”), from *seh₂- (“to satiate”).^[1][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word is first recorded in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki of the early 16th century, as sațiu in Psalm 105, where God sends his people their fill.^[3][2] MDA2 dates its first record to the Psaltirea Scheiană (c. 1573–1578).^[4] The early sense is the state of being full after eating.^[2][9]

Semantic evolution

From “fullness” the word came to mean abundance and, figuratively, the disgust or weariness of someone who has had too much.^[7][4] Tiktin quotes it for “satiety, surfeit” in Negruzzi: autumn came, and with it boredom in his house.^[2] Most of its life is in set phrases: fără saț “greedy, insatiable”, a ține de saț “to keep one full for a long time”, a nu avea saț “to be greedy”.^[7][12] The negative nesaț “greed, insatiability”, in cu nesaț “greedily”, became more common than the simple word.^[2][8][13] Today DEX labels it popular, and the glossaries of Maramureș record it in the phrase a nu avea saț.^[7][14]

Timeline

• c. 1500–1520 – sațiu in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki, Psalm 105.^[3]
• c. 1573–1578 – in the Psaltirea Scheiană, MDA2's first record.^[4][2]
• 1619 – sațiu in a text quoted by the DLR.^[9]
• 1649 – sațiu in Mardarie's Slavonic–Romanian lexicon.^[15]
• 1688 – sațiu fourteen times in the Bucharest Bible.^[16]

Meanings

Noun

1. (popular) The feeling of being full; satiety, repletion.^[7][4][1]
2. (figurative) disgust, weariness from having had too much.^[7][4]
3. abundance, plenty; also gluttony.^[7][1]

Word family

• sățios
• nesățios
• nesaț
• săția

Related words

• sătul
• sătura
• Latin satis

Usage notes

Fixed expressions: fără saț “greedy, insatiable; unquenchable”, a ține (de) saț “to keep (someone) full for a long time”, a-și ține sațul “to eat one's fill for a long time”, a nu avea saț “to be insatiable”.^[7][10] Old texts and some modern authors use the variant sațiu.^[7][8]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. saț
3. ^ a b c 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 105:16
4. ^ a b c d e f g Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 762
5. ^ 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. saț
6. ^ Pușcariu, Sextil (1905), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der rumänischen Sprache I: Lateinisches Element, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 137
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 977
8. ^ a b c Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1157
9. ^ a b c Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. saț
10. ^ a b Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. saț
11. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
12. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 4, 16
13. ^ Graur, Alexandru (1980), Cuvinte înrudite, București: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică, p. s.v. saț
14. ^ Ștef, Dorin (2011), Dicționar de regionalisme și arhaisme din Maramureș, Baia Mare: Ethnologica, p. s.v. saț
15. ^ 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. sațiu
16. ^ Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Ex 16:3