Etymologically
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di

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Forms

di[1]

  • Other spellings: DI in Papahagi's dictionary;[2] di in the Romanian-based spelling of Dalametra and Mihăileanu;[3][4] di in Weigand's transcription, who notes that it is also pronounced de, above all before a following a.[5]
  • Pascu records both di and de in the older grammars and dictionaries.[6]
  • Before a vowel it is often joined to the next word: di-afea “therefore”, di-iu “from where”, di-oâră “long ago” in Dalametra's spelling.[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin dē (“from, down from, concerning”).[2][6][1] In Latin it was a preposition with the ablative marking removal from a place, away from or down from.[7] Wiktionary traces it to Proto-Italic *dē (“from”) and Proto-Indo-European *déh₁ (“towards”);[1] the Oxford Latin Dictionary compares Oscan dat and Old Irish di.[7]

The word is shared by the four Eastern Romance languages: Romanian de, Megleno-Romanian di and Istro-Romanian de.[8][9][10][11] Further west the Latin preposition gave Italian di, French de, Spanish de, Portuguese de and Romansh da; in later Latin and in the Romance languages it took over the functions of the genitive.[12]

Earliest recorded meaning

The oldest record the sources cite is Boiagi's grammar of 1813, from which Pascu quotes di and de as a preposition, also in the sense “among”, and as a conjunction meaning “and”.[6]

Semantic evolution

From the Latin sense of separation and origin the word came to cover almost every relation between two things in Aromanian: belonging, material, content, origin, cause and the part of a whole.[13][2] As in the western Romance languages, it does the work of the Latin genitive (cale di heru “railway”, literally “road of iron”).[12][4] It also marks the second term of a comparison (“than”)[6][14] and, repeated around a noun, a succession: an di an “year after year”, un di un “one by one”.[2] Papahagi compares să scoálă di noápte “he gets up while it is still night” with the same use in Old Romanian and in Latin de nocte.[2] As a conjunction it joins two verbs (“and”, “so that”) and introduces a condition (“if”).[6][5][15]

Timeline

  • 1813 – di and de in Boiagi's grammar, as cited by Pascu.[6]
  • 1894 – di “of, from; and; that; than” in Weigand's glossary.[5]
  • 1901 – di in Mihăileanu's dictionary, with cale di heru “railway”.[4]
  • 1906 – di in Dalametra's dictionary.[3]

Meanings

Preposition

  1. of: marks what a thing belongs or relates to.[13][1][4]
  2. Of, made of: marks the material of a thing (di asime “of silver”).[13][5][15]
  3. from, since: marks the place or time of origin or departure.[1][2][5][16]
  4. From, because of: marks the cause.[13][17][16]
  5. Among, of: marks the part of a whole.[6][18]
  6. than, in comparisons.[6][5][14]
  7. Repeated around a noun, marks a succession (an di an “year after year”, un di un “one by one”).[2][13]

Conjunction

  1. and, joining two verbs.[6][5][15]
  2. That, so that.[5][15]
  3. if, whether.[6][15]
  • Romanian de
  • Megleno-Romanian di

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Papahagi, Tache (1974), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, 2nd augmented ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. 467
  3. ^ a b c Dalametra, I. (1906), Dicționar macedo-român, București: Academia Română, p. 75
  4. ^ a b c d Mihăileanu, Ștefan (1901), Dicționar macedo-român, București, p. 142
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h Weigand, Gustav (1894), Die Aromunen: ethnographisch-philologisch-historische Untersuchungen, vol. II: Volksliteratur der Aromunen (with a glossary), Leipzig: J. A. Barth, p. 299
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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, 75
  7. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ Pușcariu, Sextil (1905), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der rumänischen Sprache I: Lateinisches Element, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 43
  9. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Densusianu, Ov. (1907–1914), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române: elementele latine (A–Putea), București
  10. ^ Saramandu, Nicolae (coord.) et al. (2010–), Dicționarul dialectului meglenoromân, general și etimologic, fascicles in Fonetică și dialectologie XXIX–, p. 188
  11. ^ Kovačec, August (1998), Istrorumunjsko-hrvatski rječnik (s gramatikom i tekstovima), Pula
  12. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  13. ^ a b c d e Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net)
  14. ^ a b Caragiu Marioțeanu, Matilda et al. (1997), Dicționar aromân (macedo-vlah) DIARO, A–D, București, p. 358
  15. ^ a b c d e Caragiu Marioțeanu, Matilda et al. (1997), Dicționar aromân (macedo-vlah) DIARO, A–D, București, p. 355
  16. ^ a b Caragiu Marioțeanu, Matilda et al. (1997), Dicționar aromân (macedo-vlah) DIARO, A–D, București, p. 403
  17. ^ Caragiu Marioțeanu, Matilda et al. (1997), Dicționar aromân (macedo-vlah) DIARO, A–D, București, p. 189
  18. ^ Caragiu Marioțeanu, Matilda et al. (1997), Dicționar aromân (macedo-vlah) DIARO, A–D, București, p. 404