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anamã

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Etymology and origin of the Aromanian word anamã

anamã1 church wine

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
Borrowed from
Modern Greek νάμα
Ultimate origin
Ancient Greek νάω

Forms

anamã f[1]

  • No plural.[2][3]
  • Pascu gives a plural anăn’.[4]
  • Other spellings: ANÁMĂ in Papahagi's dictionary, which numbers it as its first word of this spelling;[3] anămă in Dalametra's dictionary;[5] ανάμᾶ in Nikolaidis's Greek script, which he transcribes anámă, plural anani.[6]
  • Regional form: anámă in Metsovo.[7]

Etymology

The church wine is borrowed from Modern Greek νάμα (náma, “communion wine”), in the spoken form with initial a- that Nikolaidis gives, ἀνᾶμα (anáma), from Byzantine νάμα (náma).[6][3] Papahagi glosses the Greek word as "stream of water; liquid",[3] and Pascu files the Aromanian word among the Greek elements.[4]

Kriaras records both senses in Medieval Greek, flowing water and the wine of the Eucharist, and derives them from the ancient noun.[8] That is Ancient Greek νᾶμα (nâma, “anything flowing, running water, stream”),[9] already in Aeschylus, from the stem of the verb νάω (náō, “to flow”).[10] In Modern Greek it is still the sweet red wine used at communion.[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

Dalametra's dictionary of 1906 records anămă as the wine taken to church on a person's name day.[5]

Semantic evolution

Greek had narrowed the word from "running water" to the wine of the Eucharist;[8][11] in Aromanian it is the wine that a person takes to church on his name day,[2][3][5] or, for Nikolaidis, the wine offered for the liturgy.[6] In Metsovo it is the red, sweet wine of communion itself.[7]

Timeline

  • 1906 – anămă “wine taken to church on one's name day” in Dalametra's dictionary.[5]
  • 1909 – Nikolaidis derives it from Greek νᾶμα.[6]
  • 1925 – Pascu lists it among the Greek elements.[4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Wine that a person brings to church on his name day.[2][3][5]
  2. (Metsovo) The sweet red wine of the Eucharist.[7]

anamã2 fame, renown

Confidence
Probable
Formation
Borrowing
Borrowed from
Turkish nam
Ultimate origin
Persian نام

Forms

anamã f[1]

  • No plural.[2][3]
  • Other spellings and variants: anami, aname, namã, nami and name in Wiktionary;[1] anami / aname in Cunia;[2] ANAMA and ANÁME in Papahagi's dictionary, which numbers it as its second word of this spelling;[3] anâmă in Dalametra's dictionary;[5] NÁME (plural nămǐ), NÁMǍ and ANÁMǍ in the sources Polenaković lists.[12]
  • Regional forms: anáme and náme in Metsovo.[7]

Etymology

Fame is borrowed from Turkish nam (“name, fame”), which Polenaković traces to Persian نام (nām); he files the forms with and without a- together, under the shorter one, and compares Albanian nam.[12] Papahagi gives no etymology and refers to the shorter forms.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Dalametra's dictionary of 1906 records anâmă as renown, good or bad.[5]

Semantic evolution

The word means the good or bad name that people give someone, his reputation, and also glory.[2][3][5] In Metsovo the shorter forms mean both reputation and the public opinion about someone.[7]

Timeline

  • 1906 – anâmă “renown” in Dalametra's dictionary.[5]
  • 2007 – Polenaković derives it from Turkish nam.[12]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Fame, renown, good or bad reputation.[2][5][1]
  2. Glory.[3][1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net), p. 65
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Papahagi, Tache (1974), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, 2nd augmented ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. 153
  4. ^ a b c 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. 2, 11
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Dalametra, I. (1906), Dicționar macedo-român, București: Academia Română, p. 14
  6. ^ a b c d Νικολαΐδης, Κωνσταντίνος (1909), Ετυμολογικόν λεξικόν της κουτσοβλαχικής γλώσσης, Αθήνα, p. 39
  7. ^ a b c d e Δασούλας, Φώτης (2013), Το βλαχικό ιδίωμα του Μετσόβου, 2nd ed.
  8. ^ a b Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
  9. ^ Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  10. ^ Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας, p. 967
  11. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
  12. ^ a b c Поленаковиќ, Харалампие (2007), Турски елементи во ароманскиот јазик, Скопје, p. 158

Related etymologies

  • am · also from Greek
  • aerã · also from Greek
  • hoarã · also from Greek
  • chiro · also from Greek
  • tora · also from Greek
  • prot · also from Greek
  • has · also from Greek
  • carti · also from Greek
Cite this entry

“Anamã.” Etymologically, 26 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/rup/anam%C3%A3. Accessed 26 Oct. 2026.

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