el

Forms

el m (plural elj)^[1]

• Feminine ea (ĭá), plural elj (ĭéljĭ), feminine plural eali / eale; short forms ãl, ul, lu, u, ãlj, lji, lj, li, l.^[2]
• Genitive-dative a lui, with the unstressed lji; plural genitive-dative a lor.^[3][4][5]
• Other spellings: EL, feminine eá, plural eli, eále, in Papahagi's dictionary;^[6] el, plural eli, in Dalametra's dictionary;^[7] elu in Wiktionary;^[1] elŭ in Bara's dictionary;^[8] el in Weigand's glossary.^[9]
• Pascu's sources, Boiagi among them, write the accusative elu and the plural el’.^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *illus, the Vulgar Latin form of Latin ille (“that”),^[3][6][10] which Wiktionary gives as the probable route from Latin.^[1] Pascu derives the case forms from Latin case forms as well: lui from a dative illui, elj from illī and lor from illōrum; the definite article grew out of the unstressed forms of the pronoun.^[3][1]

The pronoun is common to the four Eastern Romance languages: Romanian el, Megleno-Romanian iel and Istro-Romanian ie.^[10][1] The western languages made the same Latin word their third-person pronoun: Italian egli, French il and Spanish él.^[11][10]

In Latin, the pronoun replaced the older olle; de Vaan explains its i- by analogy with iste.^[12] Wiktionary traces the older form to Proto-Indo-European *h₂el- (“beyond, other”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The oldest records are the accusative elu and the plural el’ that Pascu quotes from Boiagi's grammar of 1813.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The Latin demonstrative "that" became the personal pronoun "he" in all the Romance languages.^[11][10] In Aromanian it stands for the man or thing spoken of,^[2][6] and, figuratively, for the master of the house.^[2]

Timeline

• 1813 – elu “him” and the plural el’ in Boiagi's grammar, as Pascu cites them.^[3]
• 1894 – el “he” in Weigand's glossary.^[9]
• 1906 – el, plural eli, in Dalametra's dictionary.^[7]
• 1925 – Pascu derives it from Latin *illus.^[3]

Meanings

Pronoun

1. He, him: the third-person masculine pronoun, standing for the person or thing spoken of.^[2][6][1]
2. (figurative) The master of the house.^[2]

Related words

• Romanian el

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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), p. 433
3. ^ a b c d e f g 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, 82
4. ^ Papahagi, Pericle (1905), Basme aromâne și glosar, București: Academia Română, p. 591
5. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Densusianu, Ov. (1907–1914), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române: elementele latine (A–Putea), București
6. ^ a b c d Papahagi, Tache (1974), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, 2nd augmented ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. 527
7. ^ a b Dalametra, I. (1906), Dicționar macedo-român, București: Academia Română, p. 88
8. ^ Bara, Mariana (2024), Dictsiunarlu ti cathi dzuuã, online at dixionline.net
9. ^ a b Weigand, Gustav (1894), Die Aromunen: ethnographisch-philologisch-historische Untersuchungen, vol. II: Volksliteratur der Aromunen (with a glossary), Leipzig: J. A. Barth, p. 302
10. ^ a b c d Ciorănescu, Alexandru (1958–1966), Diccionario etimológico rumano, La Laguna: Universidad de La Laguna (Romanian ed.: Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române, București: Saeculum, 2001)
11. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
12. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill