aestu

Forms

aestu m (feminine aestã, masculine plural aeshti or aeshtsã, feminine plural aesti or aeste)^[1]

• Feminine aestã, masculine plural aeshti or aeshtsã, feminine plural aesti or aeste;^[2] genitive-dative aiștui, feminine aiștei, plural aiștoru.^[3][4]
• Other spellings: AÉST(U), feminine -tă, plural aéste, in Papahagi's dictionary;^[5] aestu in Mihăileanu's Romanian-based spelling, who notes it as used only by the Aromanians of Thessaly;^[6] αέστου and αἴστου in Nikolaidis's Greek script, transcribed aéstu and aístu.^[7]
• Variants: aistu, which Papahagi writes AÍST(U);^[8]{K}{CUNIA} istu, ist, atsestu and atsistu;{CUNIA}{K} estu, which Weigand records with aestu for the south.^[9][3] Pascu also lists astu and ist.^[10]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *istus (“this”), the form taken by Latin iste (“that (of yours)”) in Romance.^[5][10] Pascu explains the initial a- by the analogy of atsestu and atsistu; from the oblique forms, in which an unstressed e became i, came the variants with i.^[10] Wiktionary proposes instead a compound of eccum (“behold him”) and iste, or of ad (“to”) and iste,^[1] and Ciorănescu derives the Romanian cognate, with the Aromanian forms, from a Latin compound of eccum.^[11] Nikolaidis derived it from ecce (“behold”) and iste.^[7] The Oxford Latin Dictionary explains iste as probably is (“he, that”) with the particle -te,^[12] and de Vaan reconstructs Proto-Italic *es-to-, continued in Umbrian estu (“this”).^[13]

Its cognates are Romanian acest, Megleno-Romanian țista and Istro-Romanian țăsta;^[11] Pușcariu also compares the Romanian demonstrative ăst.^[14]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word is recorded first in its variant aistu, which Pascu cites from Boiagi's grammar of 1813;^[10] the form aestu is in Weigand's glossary of 1894, glossed “this”.^[9]

Semantic evolution

The word kept the Latin demonstrative use: it points to someone or something near the speaker, as a pronoun or before a noun.^[15][5][1] Papahagi quotes aést cap ţe-i gol di minte (“this head, which is empty of sense”).^[5]

Timeline

• 1813 – aistu in Boiagi's grammar, as cited by Pascu.^[10]
• 1894 – aestu and aistu “this” in Weigand's glossary.^[9]
• 1901 – aestu in Mihăileanu's dictionary, noted as used in Thessaly.^[6]
• 1909 – αέστου (aéstu) in Nikolaidis's dictionary.^[7]

Meanings

Pronoun

1. (demonstrative) this, this one: someone or something near the speaker.^[15][5][1]

Related words

• Romanian acest

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net), p. 22
3. ^ a b Caragiu Marioțeanu, Matilda et al. (1997), Dicționar aromân (macedo-vlah) DIARO, A–D, București, p. 9
4. ^ Caragiu Marioțeanu, Matilda et al. (1997), Dicționar aromân (macedo-vlah) DIARO, A–D, București, p. 8
5. ^ a b c d e Papahagi, Tache (1974), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, 2nd augmented ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. 112
6. ^ a b Mihăileanu, Ștefan (1901), Dicționar macedo-român, București, p. 8
7. ^ a b c Νικολαΐδης, Κωνσταντίνος (1909), Ετυμολογικόν λεξικόν της κουτσοβλαχικής γλώσσης, Αθήνα, p. 12
8. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 76
9. ^ a b c Weigand, Gustav (1894), Die Aromunen: ethnographisch-philologisch-historische Untersuchungen, vol. II: Volksliteratur der Aromunen (with a glossary), Leipzig: J. A. Barth, p. 290
10. ^ a b c d e 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, 30
11. ^ a b Ciorănescu, Alexandru (1958–1966), Diccionario etimológico rumano, La Laguna: Universidad de La Laguna (Romanian ed.: Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române, București: Saeculum, 2001)
12. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
13. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
14. ^ Pușcariu, Sextil (1905), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der rumänischen Sprache I: Lateinisches Element, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 12
15. ^ a b Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net)