străin

Forms

străin m or n (feminine singular străină, masculine plural străini, feminine/neuter plural străine)^[1] The old and popular form is strein; old texts also have striin, and Transylvania, Banat and Oltenia say strin.^[2][3] The preface of the New Testament of 1648 thanks the prince for bringing „meșteri streini de ne-au făcut tipografie” “foreign craftsmen who set up a printing house for us”.^[2]

Etymology

Most dictionaries take it as inherited from Latin extrāneus (“external, foreign”), although the regular sound changes would have given ⟨*strâi⟩.^[4][5][6][1] DEX 2009 calls it of unknown origin.^[3] Ciorănescu holds that the Latin word was already altered in popular speech, as the irregular Italian straino of Tuscany and Umbria shows, and suggests a metathesis of the ⟨i⟩, Vulgar Latin *extrainu, as in roib from rubeus and aibă from habeat.^[4][1] For him the proof that it is inherited is the old derivative astrina “to estrange”, with the rhotacized form ⟨astriirat⟩ in the 16th century.^[4][1]

Other intermediate forms have been proposed: Latin exterraneus (Crețu), Vulgar Latin *exterrinus (Densusianu) and Vulgar Latin *extralienus (Pușcariu).^[4][1] Tiktin starts from a derivative in -ānus, Vulgar Latin *extraneānus, which became ⟨*străn’ánu⟩ and then lost its ⟨n’⟩ by dissimilation, as in făină beside regional ⟨fănină⟩; the other Romance languages extended the word with -ārius instead (Italian straniero).^[2] Weigand, Procopovici and the REW took it from Old Church Slavonic страньнъ (stranĭnŭ, “pilgrim, stranger”);^[4][2][7] Tiktin objects that this would have given ⟨strân(en)⟩, and Ciorănescu finds it harder still.^[4][2][7] The Latin word lives on in Italian strano, French étrange, Catalan estrany, Spanish extraño and Portuguese estranho.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

MDA2's first record is the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki of the early 16th century.^[5] Scriban cites the rhotacized striiru from the Psaltirea Scheiană and the Codicele Voronețean.^[8] The sense was “alien, of another people or place”: the Palia of 1581 has „acest pămînt în care striin ești” “this land in which you are a stranger”.^[6]

Semantic evolution

The word moved from the foreigner to anyone from another region or place, and to an outsider in an institution.^[5][3] It also came to mean “not kin, not close”, a stranger, and someone estranged in spirit;^[3][2] prin străini means “among strangers, far from home”.^[3][2] Other senses are “belonging to someone else”, as in the proverb lucrul străin nu ține de cald “ill-gotten goods do not keep you warm”, and “alien in nature, odd”.^[2][3] Folk poetry often uses the diminutive striior.^[2]

The derivatives include străinătate “foreign lands” and înstrăina “to estrange, to alienate”, of which the old form is astrina.^[4]

Timeline

• early 16th century – in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki, MDA2's first record.^[5]
• 1570 – striin in Coresi's Psalter.^[9]
• 1581 – striin “stranger” in the Palia of 1581.^[6]
• 1648 – meșteri streini “foreign craftsmen” in the preface of the New Testament.^[2]
• 1649 – strein and striin in Mardarie's Slavonic–Romanian lexicon.^[10]
• 1688 – dzăi striini “foreign gods” in the Bucharest Bible.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. foreign: of another country than the one where one lives; also from another region or place.^[3][5][1]
2. Of countries and places: other than one's own; belonging to another people.^[3][5]
3. Not related or close; estranged.^[3]
4. Outside someone's concerns, or unconnected with something.^[3]
5. Belonging to someone else.^[3]
6. Of a different nature from its surroundings; odd, bizarre.^[3]

Noun

1. A foreigner; a stranger.^[3][1]

Word family

• înstrăinător
• străinătate
• străinește
• înstrăina

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. străin
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1056
4. ^ a b c d e f g 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. străin
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, 1001
6. ^ a b c Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. străin
7. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 3098
8. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1249
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 68:11
10. ^ 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. strein