amirã

Forms

amirã m (plural amiradz or amirãradz or amirãladz)^[1]

• Plural amiradz, amirãradz or amirãladz.^[2][1] Mihăileanu gives the definite forms amirălu and amirăúlu.^[3]
• Other spellings: AMIRĂ in Papahagi's dictionary, with the northern form AMIRĂÙ;^[4] amiră in Dalametra and Mihăileanu;^[5][3] αμιρά (amiră) in Nikolaidis;^[6] amiro in Weigand's glossary.^[7]
• Polenaković collects the plurals amiradzǐ, amiratsǐ, amirǎradzǐ and amirǎladzǐ, the form AMIRǍU from Pericle Papahagi's tales and AMIRE from Boiagi.^[8]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Byzantine Greek ἀμιρᾶς (amirâs, “emir, commander”),^[4][9][1] from Arabic أمير (ʾamīr, “commander, prince”).^[9][10][1] Papahagi starts from Turkish amir and has it reach Aromanian through the Greek word,^[4] and Capidan stresses that it did not come straight from Turkish but from Greek.^[11] Polenaković lists it among the Turkish elements, from Turkish (Arabic) amir, with the Greek form beside it.^[8]

Kriaras records the Medieval Greek word as a military and civil title, "ruler, commander", from the 7th century on, and still in dialects today.^[10] Babiniotis notes that the same Arabic word is the starting point of the Medieval Greek title and, through other routes, of the words for "emir" and "admiral".^[12] Nişanyan derives the Turkish word from آمر (ʾāmir, “commanding”).^[13]

The obsolete Romanian amira "emir, oriental prince" is also from Greek.^[14]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Kavalliotis's word list of 1770, where it translates Modern Greek βασιλέας (vasiléas, “king”); its editor Meyer reads it amiră.^[15]

Semantic evolution

From the Greek title of a commander, the word came to mean an emperor or king in Aromanian.^[4][9] Mihăileanu glosses it "king, emperor" and uses it both of the Ottoman sultan and of the king of Romania.^[3] In the folk tales it is the title of kings, as in Amirã-Albu, Amirã-Lai or Amirã-Arap.^[2] Papahagi quotes ca la númtă di-amirádz ("as at an emperors' wedding").^[4]

Timeline

• 1770 – amiră (Meyer's reading) “king” in Kavalliotis's word list.^[15]
• 1813 – amire in Boiagi's grammar, as cited by Polenaković.^[8]
• 1894 – amiro “emperor” in Weigand's glossary.^[7]
• 1901 – amiră “king, emperor” in Mihăileanu's dictionary.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. An emperor; a king.^[2][4][1]

Related words

• Romanian amira

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net), p. 59
3. ^ a b c d Mihăileanu, Ștefan (1901), Dicționar macedo-român, București, p. 25
4. ^ a b c d e f Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 94
5. ^ Dalametra, I. (1906), Dicționar macedo-român, București: Academia Română, p. 14
6. ^ Νικολαΐδης, Κωνσταντίνος (1909), Ετυμολογικόν λεξικόν της κουτσοβλαχικής γλώσσης, Αθήνα, p. 31
7. ^ a b Weigand, Gustav (1894), Die Aromunen: ethnographisch-philologisch-historische Untersuchungen, vol. II: Volksliteratur der Aromunen (with a glossary), Leipzig: J. A. Barth, p. 292
8. ^ a b c Поленаковиќ, Харалампие (2007), Турски елементи во ароманскиот јазик, Скопје, p. 75
9. ^ a b c Geagea, Christea (1932), Elementul grec în dialectul aromân, Cernăuți: Institutul de Arte Grafice și Editură Glasul Bucovinei (offprint from Codrul Cosminului VII, pp. 205–431), p. 305
10. ^ a b Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
11. ^ Capidan, Theodor (1932), Aromânii: dialectul aromân. Studiu lingvistic, București: Academia Română (Academia Română, Studii și cercetări XX), p. 204
12. ^ Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας, p. 110
13. ^ Nişanyan, Sevan, Nişanyan Sözlük: Çağdaş Türkçenin Etimolojisi (online edition)
14. ^ Ciorănescu, Alexandru (1958–1966), Diccionario etimológico rumano, La Laguna: Universidad de La Laguna (Romanian ed.: Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române, București: Saeculum, 2001)
15. ^ a b Meyer, Gustav (1895), Albanesische Studien IV: Das griechisch-südrumänisch-albanesische Wörterverzeichnis des Kavalliotis, Sitzungsberichte der Kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften in Wien, phil.-hist. Classe 132, p. 26