subțire

Forms

subțire m or f or n (plural subțiri)^[1] The older and popular spelling is supțire: „Prea supțire și în scurtă vreame trăitoare” “very thin and short-lived”, of human life (c. 1670–1675).^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin subtīlis (“fine in texture, thin”).^{[4][5][6][7][1]} The Latin word was apparently formed on sub (“under”) and tēla (“web”) and was first a weaving term.^[8][1] Pușcariu considered supțire the better spelling.^[5]

It survives in all four branches: Aromanian suptsãri, Megleno-Romanian subtzǫri and Istro-Romanian supțir.^[4][5][1] Its Romance cognates include Italian sottile, Old French sotil, Occitan sotil, Catalan sotil and Portuguese sotil.^[4][5][6] The 19th-century neologism subtil is a doublet from the same Latin word.^[1][9][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to 1581–1582, in Genesis 41:6 of the Palia de la Orăștie, about seven thin ears of wheat.^[11] The DLR quotes the passage: „şapte spice de grîu subţiri creştea şi arse de pripec” “seven thin ears of wheat grew, scorched by the heat”.^[2] MDA2 cites the same place.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The first sense is physical: thin, slender, of small thickness or diameter.^[7][11] It extended to fine or light fabric, thin ink, fine dust, a thin voice and a light breeze.^[11][7] Subțire la pungă “thin in the purse” means poor or stingy.^[11][7]

From fineness it came to refinement: people and manners that are distinguished, delicate or, in a bad sense, affected;^[7] Vlahuță speaks of “finer” guests, lume mai supțire.^[11][7] In student slang it means poorly prepared or weak, and in Moldova it is used of fine wine.^[12][13]

Timeline

• 1581–1582 – subțiri “thin” in the Palia de la Orăștie, the first record.^[11][2]
• c. 1670–1675 – supțire of a thread and of human life.^[2]
• 1688 – subțiri in the Bucharest Bible.^[14]
• 1862 – glossed with French subtil, fin, mince, svelte by Pontbriant.^[15]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Thin: of small thickness compared with its other dimensions; of threads, strings or tubes, of small diameter.^[7][1] Subțire la (sau în) pungă: poor; stingy.^[7]
2. (of people) Slender, slim;^[7][1] (of parts of the body) narrow, fine.^[7][1]
3. (of layers, fabric, paper or clothing) Thin, light; not warm.^[7]
4. (of liquids and gases) Dilute, thin;^[7] (of rain) fine.^[7]
5. (figurative, of wind) Sharp, piercing.^[7]
6. (of a voice) High-pitched.^[7]
7. (figurative, of people) Refined, with good manners and taste;^[7][16] (pejorative) affected; shrewd.^[7][16]
8. (slang) Poor, weak: of a badly prepared student or a shoddy piece of work.^[12]

Word family

• subțiratic
• subțirime
• subția

Related words

• subtil
• Aromanian suptsãri
• Latin subtīlis

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. subțire
3. ^ a b Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 1039
4. ^ a b c 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. subțire
5. ^ a b c d Pușcariu, Sextil (1905), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der rumänischen Sprache I: Lateinisches Element, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 154
6. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 8399
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1068
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Graur, Alexandru (1980), Cuvinte înrudite, București: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică
10. ^ Gabinschi, Marcu (2001), Dicționar de dublete etimologice ale limbii române, 2nd ed., Chișinău: Litera, p. 166
11. ^ 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. subțire
12. ^ a b Volceanov, George (2007), Dicționar de argou al limbii române, București: Niculescu, p. s.v. subțire
13. ^ Stati, Vasile (2003), Dicționar moldovenesc-românesc, Chișinău
14. ^ Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Wisdom 7:22
15. ^ Pontbriant, Raoul de (1862), Dictiunaru romano-francesu, Bucuresci: A. Ulrich / Göttingen: Dieterich, p. 712
16. ^ a b Breban, Vasile (1980), Dicționar al limbii române contemporane de uz curent, București: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică