sau

Etymology

It is formed from Romanian să + au according to MDA2, the DLR, DEX and Wiktionary, ⟨au⟩ being the old conjunction “or”.^[2][3][4][1]

Others derive it from Latin.^[5][6] Cihac gave Latin seu (“or”) and sīve.^[5] Ciorănescu takes ⟨seu⟩ and calls the sound change unclear: the word might rather go back to ⟨sīve⟩, whose outcome ⟨*seaue⟩ would have reduced /ea/ to /a/.^[6] Pușcariu, Tiktin and Candrea explain it as a cross of ⟨seu⟩ with Latin aut, Romanian ⟨au⟩.^[6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Sau is in the Hurmuzaki Psalter of the early 16th century,^[8] and Tiktin cites the same psalm in the Psaltirea Scheiană.^[7] MDA2's first record is the Codicele Voronețean, which has „face-vremu ceasta sau ceaia” “we shall do this or that”.^[2][3] The sense is “or”.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Old texts used sau beside au in the same sense, as in Coresi's „au împărăția ceriului … sau osânda” “either the kingdom of heaven or damnation”.^[3] Besides the choice between alternatives it came to mark an equivalent name (“that is”) and, in questions, a hesitant “or perhaps?”.^[4] In folk speech ori is far more usual.^[7]

Timeline

• early 16th century – in the Hurmuzaki Psalter.^[8]
• c. 1563–1583 – in the Codicele Voronețean, MDA2's first record.^[2]
• 1570 – in Coresi's Psalter.^[9]

Meanings

Conjunction

1. or: joins things that exclude each other: Râde sau plânge?; alternatives: Vrei apă sau suc?^[4][1]
2. (repeated) sau…, sau… “either… or…”.^[4][7]
3. Or, that is (giving another name): Sfatul, sau adunarea țării.^[4]
4. And, as well as (in lists).^[4]
5. (in questions) Or perhaps?: De ce nu suni? Sau n-ai timp?^[4]

Related words

• au
• ori
• fie

Usage notes

An old and regional variant is seau.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 762
3. ^ a b c d Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. sau
4. ^ 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. 977
5. ^ a b Cihac, A. de (1870), Dictionnaire d'étymologie daco-romane I: Éléments latins comparés avec les autres langues romanes, Frankfurt am Main, p. 243
6. ^ a b c 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. sau
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. sau
8. ^ 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 8:5
9. ^ 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 13:3