veșmânt

Forms

veșmânt n (plural veșminte)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin vestīmentum (“clothing, garment”).^{[2][3][4][1][5]} It was formed from vestiō (“to clothe”) and the suffix -mentum.^[6][1]

The word survives in Aromanian and Megleno-Romanian: Aromanian visminte and Megleno-Romanian vișmint.^[2][7] Its Romance cognates include Italian vestimento, French vêtement, Catalan vestimenta, Spanish vestimenta and Portuguese vestimenta.^[2][5] Ciorănescu explains ⟨ș⟩ by an intermediate stage with /ʃt/, as in the variant veștmânt;^[2][8] Pușcariu put it down to the influence of învește (“to clothe”).^[2][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki of the early 16th century, with the plural veşmintele in Psalm 21.^[3][9] The sense there is “garments”.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The word first meant any garment, and in the plural the whole of a person's clothing.^[4][3] The 17th-century Slavonic–Romanian lexicons gloss Slavonic words for robe and clothing with it.^[10] In modern use it is literary or popular, and in the plural it names the vestments of the clergy.^[4][11] Scriban notes that in his day it meant a priest's robe in the service, while the general sense was old.^[8] Figurative uses describe a covering, such as snow as the winter's garment.^[8][12]

The old diminutive veșmințel occurs in Coresi's Gospel homilies.^[13] Ciorănescu lists veșmântărie “vestry” and înveșmânta “to clothe” among the derivatives.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1500-1520 – veşmintele in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki, the first record.^[3][9]
• c. 1551-1558 – veșmîntul in the Psaltirea Voronețeană.^[14]
• 1570 – veșmînt in Coresi's psalter.^[15]
• c. 1660-1670 – the word glosses Slavonic words for robe and clothing in a Slavonic–Romanian lexicon.^[10]
• 1688 – frequent in the Bucharest Bible, often for the priestly garments of Exodus.^[16]

Meanings

Noun

1. A garment, an item of clothing; in the plural, all the clothes a person wears.^[4][1]
2. (in the plural) Vestments, the robes a priest wears for a service.^[4][1]
3. (figurative) A covering, like that of snow or leaves.^[8][12]

Word family

• înveșmânta
• veșmântărie

Related words

• învește
• Aromanian visminte

Usage notes

The usual plural is veșminte; older texts also have veșmânturi and veșmente.^[3] Variants are veștmânt, vestmânt and the regional vesmânt.^[4][3] The phrase a îmbrăca veșmântul lui Hristos means to become a monk.^[17]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f 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. veșmânt
3. ^ 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, 1466
4. ^ a b c d e f DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1195
5. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 9281
6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. vestimentum
7. ^ Capidan, Theodor (1935), Meglenoromânii III: Dicționar meglenoromân, București: Academia Română, p. 328
8. ^ a b c d e Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1403
9. ^ a b 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 21:19
10. ^ a b 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. veșmînt
11. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. veșmânt
12. ^ a b Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 4, 651
13. ^ Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. veșmințel
14. ^ 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 132:3
15. ^ 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 101:28
16. ^ Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Exodus 28:2
17. ^ Dima, Eugenia (coord.) (2007), Dicționar explicativ ilustrat al limbii române, Chișinău: Arc / Gunivas, p. s.v. veșmînt