straniu

Forms

straniu m or n (feminine singular stranie, plural stranii)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Italian stranio, as DER, MDA2, DEX, the DLR and the neologism dictionaries agree.^{[2][3][4][5][6]} DEX compares the usual Italian form, strano.^[4] The Italian word is the older variant of the usual one, from Latin extrāneus (“external, foreign”).^[7][1] DELI calls the usual form the popular counterpart of the learned estraneo.^[8]

The same Latin word was inherited as Romanian străin “foreign, stranger”, which Șăineanu compares, and Gabinschi groups the two as etymological doublets.^[9][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

MDA2 and the DLR take the first record from Heliade Rădulescu, who speaks of „o stranie apologie” “a strange apology”, without a year in our sources.^[3][5] Negulici's vocabulary of 1848 explains it as “foreign, odd, not according to the natural order”.^[11]

Semantic evolution

The first glosses still keep the Latin sense “foreign”: Costinescu in 1870 explains it first as străin, unrelated to the matter in hand, and then as extraordinary, bizarre.^[12] A text of 1859 in the DLR adds ciudate “odd” in brackets after stranie, a sign that the word still needed a gloss.^[5] Eminescu's „un straniu joc” “a strange play” helped make it a word of poetry, and DEX 1998 labels it literary.^[5][13] It is often used as an adverb, and MDA2 records a neuter noun, “the strange”.^[4][3]

Timeline

• 1848 – in Negulici's vocabulary of neologisms.^[11]
• 1859 – stranie glossed ciudate “odd” in a periodical.^[5]
• 1870 – Costinescu gives it with the senses “foreign” and “bizarre”.^[12]
• 1893–1895 – Damé's dictionary translates it French étrange.^[14]

Meanings

Adjective

1. strange, odd, bizarre: out of the ordinary and striking by its look or behaviour; often used as an adverb.^[4][3][1]

Related words

• străin
• Italian strano

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. straniu
3. ^ a b c d Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 998
4. ^ a b c d DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1055
5. ^ 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. straniu
6. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. straniu
7. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
8. ^ Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
9. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 1, 619
10. ^ Gabinschi, Marcu (2001), Dicționar de dublete etimologice ale limbii române, 2nd ed., Chișinău: Litera, p. 165
11. ^ a b Negulici, I. D. (1848), Vocabular romînesc de toate vorbele streine întroduse pînă acum în limba romînească și de toate cuvintele ce s-ar mai putea introduce încă, București, p. s.v. straniu
12. ^ a b Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 2, 563
13. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan” (1998), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române, 2nd ed., București: Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1024
14. ^ Damé, Frédéric (1893–1895), Nouveau dictionnaire roumain-français, 4 vols., Bucarest: Imprimerie de l'État, p. s.v. straniu