vântos

Forms

vântos m or n (feminine singular vântoasă, masculine plural vântoși, feminine/neuter plural vântoase)^[1]

Etymology

According to the DLR, MDA2 and Scriban it is inherited from Latin ventōsus (“windy”), and Cihac compared the Romance words of the same origin.^[2][3][4][5] DEX, Ciorănescu and the Romanian Wiktionary take it instead as formed from Romanian vânt + -os; the English Wiktionary gives both.^[6][7][8][1] The Latin adjective is formed on ventus (“wind”), the source of the Romanian noun.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's earliest record is from 1703.^[9] The DLR and MDA2 start with Budai-Deleanu's lexicon (1818), and the DLR then quotes a periodical of 1839 on a tower that swayed in windy weather.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

As an adjective it describes weather, climate or a season with frequent winds, and a place swept by the wind; older texts also used it figuratively for “fickle” and “frivolous”.^[3][2][6] The feminine became a noun, vântoasă, a violent whirling wind or storm, recorded especially in Moldavia and Transylvania.^[9][7][6] Folk belief made the vântoase storm spirits, another name for the iele, and a person struck by them is called vântos in some regions; curses such as Du-te-n vântoase! “go to the storm spirits!” keep this sense.^[2][3][6][7] In Transylvania the vântoase are also the first nine or twelve days of March, whose weather changes often, the days of the old woman Dochia.^[2]

Timeline

• 1703 – the earliest record Tiktin gives.^[9]
• 1818 – in Budai-Deleanu's lexicon, the first record in MDA2.^[3][2]
• 1839 – of windy weather, in a periodical quoted by the DLR.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. windy: with wind or with frequent winds; swept by the wind.^[6][3][1]
2. (regional) Of a person: struck by the storm spirits.^[3][2]
3. (obsolete, figurative) fickle; frivolous.^[3]

Noun

1. vântoasă: a violent wind with whirls; a storm, gale.^[6][9]
2. vântoase (plural): the iele, female spirits of folk belief.^[6][2]

Related words

• vânt
• vântura

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 Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. vîntos
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 1435
4. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1414
5. ^ Cihac, A. de (1870), Dictionnaire d'étymologie daco-romane I: Éléments latins comparés avec les autres langues romanes, Frankfurt am Main, p. 315
6. ^ a b c d e f g DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1188
7. ^ 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. vînt
8. ^ Wikționar (Romanian Wiktionary), ro.wiktionary.org
9. ^ a b c d Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. vântos