stăpân

Forms

stăpân m (plural stăpâni, feminine equivalent stăpână)^[1]

Etymology

Its origin is uncertain.^[2][3] The usual explanation, held by Miklosich, Cihac, Tiktin, Candrea and Rosetti among others, takes it borrowed from Old Church Slavonic стопанъ (stopanŭ, “master”), beside Bulgarian стопанин (stopanin), Serbo-Croatian stopanin and Albanian stopan (“head shepherd”).^[2] DLR only compares the Slavonic word;^[1] DEX 2009 and MDA2 call the word of unknown origin and compare it.^[4][3][5]

Ciorănescu raises two objections to the Slavic source.^[2] The change of /an/ to /ɨn/ is unusual in a Slavic loan, though not impossible, as smântână and stână show.^[2] More serious, the Slavic words stand alone, with no family in Slavic, which suggests that the Slavic languages themselves borrowed them, from Albanian according to some, or perhaps from Romanian.^[2] The formal parallel with jupân has also led scholars to look for a native word.^[2]

Ciorănescu finds none of the other proposals convincing.^[2] Papahagi derived it from Albanian štëpë (“house”).^[2] Laurian and Massim, Barić, Pușcariu and Capidan saw in it a *istopanus, by metathesis from Vulgar Latin *hospitanus formed on hospes (“host, guest”);^[1] Ciorănescu calls the metathesis improbable.^[2] Giuglea proposed a Latin *stipanus from stips (“small coin, gift”), Migliorini the name of King Stephen of Hungary, and Pușcariu Latin stephanus, from Ancient Greek στέφανος (stéphanos, “crown”);^[1] Sandfeld counted it among the Balkan words.^[2]

Wiktionary adds that it may come from an early form of that Albanian word for “house”, itself from Latin hospitium or Modern Greek σπίτι (spíti), since words for “master” are often formed on words for “house”, as dominus on domus.^[1] For the Bulgarian word it reports a Balkan substrate origin proposed by Georgiev and Simeonov, akin to shtëpâ (“head shepherd”).^[1]

Megleno-Romanian has the noun too, stăpǫn, with a feminine stopâncă taken from стопанка (stopanka).^[2][6] Aromanian has only a verb, stãpuescu (“to restrain oneself, to stop”), which Wiktionary connects with stăpâni, while Papahagi derives it from Albanian stepem (“to draw back”).^[1][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Coresi's homiliary of 1581, where the demons ask to go into the herd of swine, to drown them and grieve „inimile stăpânilor lor” “the hearts of their owners”.^[5][4] The same book has the good shepherd who is „nu este naiemnic, ce stăpân” “not a hireling but the master” of the sheep.^[4]

Semantic evolution

DLR and MDA2 put first the owner of a flock of sheep, and of animals generally, the sense of the first records.^[4][5] From there it widened to the master of servants, serfs or slaves, the employer, and to whoever holds power over people or a land, a sovereign.^[4][3] The Slavonic–Romanian lexicons of the 17th century give it for Slavonic господинъ and владыка “lord”.^[8] Klein's dictionary of 1801 renders it with Latin herus and dominus.^[9] The figurative stăpân pe sine “master of oneself” and stăpân pe situație “in control of the situation” are modern.^[3][10] In service, a intra la stăpân meant to go into service as a servant.^[10][3]

Timeline

• 1581 – first record, the owners of a herd, in Coresi's homiliary.^[5][4]
• 1649 – Mardarie's Slavonic–Romanian lexicon gives it for Slavonic господинъ “lord”.^[8]
• 1688 – frequent in the Bucharest Bible, singular and plural.^[11]
• 1801 – Klein's dictionary: Latin herus, dominus.^[9]
• 1825 – the Buda lexicon spells it stăpânu and gives the senses master of a house, ruler and owner.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. An owner of a thing or of animals; formerly, the owner of slaves.^[3][5]
2. The person in whose service someone is employed; an employer, a master.^[3] A intra la stăpân means to go into service, and fără stăpân means free, one's own master, or aimless.^[3][13]
3. A person who holds power or authority over someone or something; a sovereign, ruler.^[3] A fi stăpân pe situație is to be in control of a situation, and a fi stăpân pe sine is to keep one's self-control.^[3][5]
4. The host, in relation to guests.^[3]
5. (regional) The owner of a flock of sheep.^[5][4]

Word family

• stăpână
• stăpâni
• stăpânie
• stăpânire
• stăpânitor
• înstăpâni
• nestăpânit

Related words

• jupân
• Megleno-Romanian stăpǫn
• Old Church Slavonic стопанъ (stopanŭ)

Usage notes

The feminine is stăpână “mistress, owner”.^[3][1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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. stăpîn
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1047
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. stăpîn
5. ^ 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, 976
6. ^ Capidan, Theodor (1935), Meglenoromânii III: Dicționar meglenoromân, București: Academia Română, p. 274
7. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 973
8. ^ 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. stăpîn
9. ^ a b Gáldi, László (ed.) (1944), Samuel Klein: Dictionarium valachico-latinum. Primul dicționar al limbii române, Budapest: Királyi Magyar Pázmány Péter Tudományegyetemi Román Intézet (Klein's dictionary of 1801, with Gáldi's etymological study), p. 449
10. ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1, 1239
11. ^ Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Genesis 27:29
12. ^ Lesicon românescu-latinescu-ungurescu-nemțescu quare de mai mulți autori, în cursul a trideci și mai multor ani s-au lucrat (1825), Buda: Typographia Universității (the Lexicon of Buda, ed. Petru Maior et al.), p. 670
13. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 4, 222