sos

Forms

sos n (plural sosuri)^[1] Costinescu's dictionary of 1870 spells it sossŭ, and Antonescu's of 1875 sossu.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French sauce.^{[4][5][6][7][8][1]} The French word is the noun use of the feminine of Latin salsus (“salted”), the past participle of saliō (“to salt”), from sāl (“salt”).^[9][1] Scriban compares Italian salsa and Romanian sare “salt”.^[10] The serving dish sosieră was borrowed separately, from saucière.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is Vaillant's dictionary of 1839.^[7] MDA2 and the DLR quote first an undated cookbook, Mâncările, which has sosuri of ostropel stews.^[5][6]

Semantic evolution

The word names any liquid or thick preparation, usually seasoned, in which food is cooked or with which it is served.^[4][6] A text by Manolache Drăghici calls sauces the chief foundation of the art of cooking.^[6] In Transylvania it also means tomato juice or paste.^[5] The expression a se amesteca în toate sosurile “to meddle in every muddle” is figurative.^[11]

Timeline

• 1839 – in Vaillant's dictionary.^[7]
• 1870 – sossŭ in Costinescu's dictionary.^[2]
• 1893 – in Damé's dictionary, glossed French sauce.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. A sauce or gravy: a liquid or thick seasoned preparation in which some dishes are cooked or with which they are served.^[4][1]
2. (regional, Transylvania) Tomato juice or tomato paste.^[5]

Related words

• sare
• French sauce

Usage notes

The plural is sosuri.^[4] Regional variants include sost, soț, zos and zoț.^[5] Two other words share the spelling.^[4] DEX's sos² is the international distress call SOS, read esoés or se-o-se, from English and French.^[4] An old and regional sos is a form of sus “up”.^[5][6] Tamás also records a Transylvanian sos “doorpost, fence post”, from Hungarian sas.^[13]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 2, 538
3. ^ Antonescu, G. M. (1875), Dictionariu romanu-francesu, Bucuresci: Typografia Curții (Lucrători Associați), p. 293
4. ^ a b c d e f DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1035
5. ^ 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, 937
6. ^ a b c d e Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. sos
7. ^ a b c Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. sos
8. ^ a b 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. sos
9. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1224
11. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 4, 178
12. ^ Damé, Frédéric (1893–1895), Nouveau dictionnaire roumain-français, 4 vols., Bucarest: Imprimerie de l'État, p. s.v. sos
13. ^ Tamás, Lajos (1966), Etymologisch-historisches Wörterbuch der ungarischen Elemente im Rumänischen, Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, p. 741