sosi

Forms

sosi (third-person singular present sosește, past participle sosit) 4th conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Modern Greek σώνω (sóno), from its aorist έσωσα (ésosa) or its future σώσω (sóso): Ciorănescu, the DLR and MDA2 start from the aorist, DEX and Wiktionary from the future.^{[2][3][4][5][1]} Ciorănescu follows Miklosich, Cihac, Murnu, Philippide and Pușcariu, and compares Albanian sos.^[2] Șăineanu called the source Byzantine Greek.^[6] The Greek verb comes from Ancient Greek σῴζω (sṓizō, “to save”), remodelled on that aorist, which looked like the aorists of verbs such as παγώνω (pagóno).^[7] Wiktionary notes that the word is already in the oldest texts.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is from about 1431, in the Slavonic–Romanian documents.^[8] In a Romanian text it first appears in the Codicele Voronețean (c. 1563–1583), with the form sosimu “we arrived”.^[4][3]

Semantic evolution

The main sense has always been “to arrive”, of people and then of vehicles, letters and money.^[3][8] Of time it means “to come”, as in a-i sosi ceasul “one's hour has come”, that is, to die.^[5] In Muntenia it was also transitive, “to catch up with, overtake”.^[8][5] The old texts also use it for “to suffice, be enough”, as in Varlaam's Cazania and Dosoftei.^[8][3][9] The 17th-century lexicons gloss it with Old Church Slavonic приспѣ (prispě).^[10]

Timeline

• c. 1431 – a record in the Slavonic–Romanian documents.^[8]
• c. 1563–1583 – sosimu “we arrived” in the Codicele Voronețean.^[4][3]
• 1649 – Mardarie's lexicon.^[10]
• 1688 – frequent in the Bucharest Bible.^[11]
• 1893–1895 – bine ai sosit! “welcome!” in Damé's dictionary.^[12]

Meanings

Verb

1. (intransitive) To arrive, to reach a place at a certain time: Trenul sosește la noapte.^[5][1]
2. (intransitive) Of seasons or dates, to come, begin: pe sosite “about to arrive”.^[5][13]
3. (transitive, popular) To overtake someone, to catch someone unawares.^[5][8]
4. (intransitive, rare) To happen to, be in a position to;^[5][1] (obsolete) to suffice.^[5][1]

Word family

• sosit
• sositor
• nesosință

Usage notes

Bine ai sosit! “welcome!” is the usual greeting to a guest.^[12][6]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. sosi
3. ^ 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. sosi
4. ^ a b c Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 937
5. ^ a b c d e f g h DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1035
6. ^ a b Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 1, 605
7. ^ Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας, p. 1452
8. ^ a b c d e f Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. sosi
9. ^ Chițimia, I. C.; Toma, Stela (eds.) (1984–1989), Crestomație de literatură română veche, 2 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Dacia, p. s.v. sosi
10. ^ a b 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. sosi
11. ^ Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. JUDECĂTORII 18:10
12. ^ a b Damé, Frédéric (1893–1895), Nouveau dictionnaire roumain-français, 4 vols., Bucarest: Imprimerie de l'État, p. s.v. sosi
13. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. sosi