veșted

Forms

veșted m or n (feminine singular veștedă, masculine plural veștezi, feminine/neuter plural veștede)^[1] Dosoftei's metrical psalter has the feminine in „Sara-i veștedă de soare” “by evening it is withered by the sun”.^[2]

Etymology

The Academy dictionaries take it as inherited from Vulgar Latin *vescidus, formed on Latin vēscus (“thin, feeble”).^[3][2][4] Candrea, Pușcariu, Philippide and Rosetti gave the same explanation.^[5] Ciorănescu instead derives it from viscidus (“sour, bitter”), following Cipariu, Densusianu, Iordan and the REW, and compares Sardinian biskidu (“rancid”).^[5][6] For him the sense requires an intermediate meaning of gone off or spoiled.^[5] Wiktionary also prefers the Late Latin adjective, a derivative of viscum (“mistletoe, birdlime”), and compares Albanian vjeshtë (“autumn”).^[1] Scriban proposed *viescidus, from a verb meaning to wither, influenced by the Late Latin adjective.^[7]

The word survives in Aromanian: Aromanian veashtid.^[5][8] Papahagi follows the Academy's explanation, while Pascu followed Ciorănescu's.^[8][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to Dosoftei's metrical psalter of 1673, where grass is said to be withered by the sun.^[10][2] MDA2 cites the same work.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The first sense is that of plants that have lost their freshness for lack of water, heat or cold.^[2][4] It was extended to places whose vegetation has withered, and figuratively to people without vigour and to faded colours.^[4] In Transylvania it is also used as a noun, “a dead man”.^[3]

The old dictionaries gave it Latin equivalents: Klein wrote Veshted with vescidus, and the Lexicon of Buda (1825) took it from vescus by metathesis.^[11][12] Ciorănescu names the verb veșteji as its derivative.^[5]

Timeline

• 1673 – veștedă in Dosoftei's metrical psalter, the first record.^[10][2]
• 1801 – Veshted in Klein's dictionary.^[11]
• 1825 – véštedu “withered” in the Lexicon of Buda.^[12]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (of plants) withered, no longer fresh; ofilit.^[4][1]
2. (of places) whose vegetation has withered;^[4] (figurative) dull, gloomy.^[4]
3. (figurative, of people and their features) haggard, without vigour.^[4]
4. (of colours) faded, pale, without lustre.^[4][1]

Word family

• veșteji

Related words

• Aromanian veashtid

Usage notes

An old variant is vested, and regional ones are veștet and veștid.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. veșted
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, 1466
4. ^ a b c d e f g h DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1195
5. ^ a b c d e 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. veșted
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 9271
7. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1403
8. ^ a b Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1106
9. ^ Pascu, Giorge (1925), Dictionnaire étymologique macédoroumain, 2 vols. (I: Les éléments latins et romans; II: Les éléments grecs, turcs, slaves, albanais, germaniques, magyars, néologismes, créations immédiates, obscurs), Iași: Cultura Națională, p. 1, 183
10. ^ a b Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. veșted
11. ^ a b Gáldi, László (ed.) (1944), Samuel Klein: Dictionarium valachico-latinum. Primul dicționar al limbii române, Budapest: Királyi Magyar Pázmány Péter Tudományegyetemi Román Intézet (Klein's dictionary of 1801, with Gáldi's etymological study), p. 475
12. ^ 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. 753