soț

Forms

soț m (plural soți, feminine equivalent soție)^[1] MDA2 records a rare old plural soțuri and an old vocative soațe.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin socius (“companion, partner”).^[3][2][4][1] The Latin word goes back to Proto-Indo-European *sokʷ-yo- (“companion”), from *sekʷ- (“to follow”), the root of sequor (“to follow”).^[1][5]

The word survives in Aromanian and Megleno-Romanian: Aromanian sots and Megleno-Romanian soț.^[3][6][7][8] Albanian has shok (“companion”), also from the Latin word, and Italian soccio “partner in a livestock lease”.^[3][1][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki of the early 16th century, with the sense “companion”.^[2][4] A lament of about 1550 calls on “my brothers and my companions”, fraților și soții miei.^[4]

Semantic evolution

In the old language soț meant a companion, comrade, partner or friend;^[10][4] Coresi used it to translate the Slavonic word for “friend” in John 15:14, Voi soții miei sunteți.^[10][4] It could also mean a spouse of either sex: Moxa calls the empress Eudoxia the soț of Theodosius.^[10] Tiktin notes that the split between soț “husband” and soție “wife” is fairly recent.^[10] Soție first meant “companionship, partnership”, then a female companion, and today only “wife”.^[9][3]

From “companion” came “one of a pair”: cu soț and fără soț “even” and “odd” of numbers, and a game of chance played on even or odd.^[11][12] The verb însoți “to accompany” is a Romanian derivative.^[3]

Timeline

• early 16th century – soț “companion” in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki, the first record.^[2][13]
• c. 1550 – soții miei “my companions” in a lament.^[4]
• 1551–1558 – soțul in the Psalter of Voroneț.^[14]
• 16th century – soț in the Codicele Voronețean.^[10]
• 1648 – soții săi “his companions” in the New Testament of 1648.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. husband: a married man in relation to his wife; in the plural, a married couple, the spouses.^[11][1]
2. (obsolete) wife.^[11]
3. (popular) A companion, fellow; associate.^[11]
4. One of a pair of similar objects;^[11] cu soț / fără soț “even” / “odd”.^[11]

Word family

• soție
• soțesc
• soață
• însoți
• însoțitor

Related words

• Aromanian sots
• Latin socius

Usage notes

The feminine is soție “wife”; the old soață meant a female companion or a wife.^[3][11]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f 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, 938
3. ^ a b c d e f 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. soț
4. ^ a b c d e f g Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. soț
5. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
6. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 964
7. ^ Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net), p. 958
8. ^ Capidan, Theodor (1935), Meglenoromânii III: Dicționar meglenoromân, București: Academia Română, p. 270
9. ^ a b Pușcariu, Sextil (1905), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der rumänischen Sprache I: Lateinisches Element, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 146
10. ^ a b c d e Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. soț
11. ^ 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. 1035
12. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1224
13. ^ 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 70:22
14. ^ 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 100:6