străinătate

Forms

străinătate f (uncountable)^[1] Western and older texts have streinătate: „În 37 de ani ai streinătății lui Ioachim” “in the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin” (Bucharest Bible, 1688).^[2][3] MDA2 records the popular plural străinătățuri beside străinătăți.^[4]

Etymology

It is formed from Romanian străin + -ătate, from the adjective “foreign” with the suffix of abstract nouns.^[5][4][2][1] The adjective is from Latin extrāneus, though the sound history is disputed.^[6][1] Aromanian forms strinãtati in the same way.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is Coresi's Praxiu of 1563, in the sense of foreign lands.^[2] The Bucharest Bible of 1688 has it for the Babylonian exile.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The word means foreign lands, the countries beyond one's own borders, as in a pleca în străinătate “to go abroad”.^[5][2] From the start it also meant exile and life among strangers: in folk songs the young bride laments „Săracă străinătate, / Mult ești plină de păcate” “Poor foreign land, how full of sorrows you are”.^[2][7] In the old language it could also mean a crowd of foreigners: a manuscript of 1782 speaks of Albanian bandits mixed with „altă multă streinătate” “many other foreigners”, and Eminescu uses it in that sense.^[2][4] The Lexicon de la Buda (1825) gives both senses, foreign land and foreigners.^[8]

Timeline

• 1563 – in Coresi's Praxiu, the first record.^[2]
• 1688 – streinătății “of the exile” in the Bucharest Bible.^[2]
• c. 1743 – in Ion Neculce's chronicle, MDA2's first record.^[4]
• 1782 – “a crowd of foreigners” in a manuscript.^[2]
• 1825 – foreign land and foreigners in the Lexicon de la Buda.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. abroad, foreign lands: a country or region beyond the borders of one's own homeland: Fratele meu lucrează în străinătate.^[5][4][1]
2. A strange environment, far from one's family and acquaintances.^[5][4]
3. (old, poetic) Exile; a crowd of foreigners; loneliness.^[4][2]

Related words

• străin
• străinime
• Aromanian strinãtati

References

1. ^ a b c d e 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. străinătate
3. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1, 1249
4. ^ 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, 1002
5. ^ a b c d DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1056
6. ^ 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
7. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 4, 252
8. ^ a b 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. 674