Etymologically

lipsescu

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Forms

lipsescu (third-person singular lipseashti or lipseashte, participle lipsitã)[1]

  • Fourth-class verb: aorist lipsii, imperfect lipseam, participle lipsitã, long infinitive lipsiri or lipsire;[2] Papahagi gives lipsíi, -sít, -síre.[3]
  • Other spellings: λειψέσκου (lipsésku), aorist -ψι, in the Greek script of Nikolaidis;[4] lipsesku in Weigand's glossary and in Meyer's reading of Kavalliotis's word list;[5][6] lipseásce (third person) in Mihăileanu's Romanian-based spelling;[7] lãpsest as Wiktionary's alternative form.[1]
  • Regional forms: lipséscu (long infinitive lipsíre, participle lipsítă) in the dialect of Metsovo.[8]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Modern Greek λείπω (leípo, “to be absent, to lack”),[3][9] with the Aromanian verb suffix -escu added to the Greek stem.[1] Pascu and Ciorănescu take the stem from the aorist ἔλειψα (éleipsa),[9][10] as Nikolaidis did,[4] and Wiktionary from the future λείψω (leípso).[1] Pascu compares Albanian lipsem (“to be absent, to lack; to be needed”) and a Bulgarian verb of the same origin.[9] Romanian lipsi has the same Greek source, perhaps partly through Slavic, in Ciorănescu's view.[10]

The Greek verb goes back to Ancient Greek λείπω (leípō, “to leave behind; to be wanting”), found since Homer and already as a Mycenaean participle.[11][12] It continues Proto-Indo-European *leykʷ- (“to leave behind”), the root of Latin linquō (“to leave”) too.[12][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The verb is in Kavalliotis's Greek–Aromanian–Albanian word list of 1770: Meyer reads it as lipsesku, beside Modern Greek λείπω (leípo) “to be lacking”.[6]

Semantic evolution

Greek λείπω meant to leave and, intransitively, to be wanting.[11] The Aromanian verb means to be absent, to be missing or lacking, and, used impersonally, to be needed, so that lipseashti comes to mean “it is necessary, one must”.[3][13][5][14] Pascu cites the derivative lipsire “need, necessity” from Boiagi's grammar of 1813.[9] In Metsovo it also means to miss someone, to long to see them.[8]

Timeline

  • 1770 – lipsesku, beside Greek λείπω, in Kavalliotis's word list.[6]
  • 1813 – the derivative lipsire “need” in Boiagi's grammar, as cited by Pascu.[9]
  • 1894 – lipsesku “to be missing; to be needed” in Weigand's glossary.[5]
  • 1901 – lipseásce “it is necessary” in Mihăileanu's dictionary.[7]
  • 1925 – Pascu derives it from Greek λείπω.[9]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To be absent, to be away.[3][13][1]
  2. To be missing; to lack.[3][1][5]
  3. (impersonal) To be necessary, to be needed; must.[3][13][7][14]
  4. To deprive.[1]
  5. (Metsovo) To miss someone, to long to see them.[8]
  • lipsiri
  • lipsire
  • lipsit
  • Romanian lipsi

Usage notes

Papahagi, Pascu and Geagea list a separate verb lipisescu “to grieve, to sadden; to be in mourning”, from Modern Greek λυπῶ (lypó, “to grieve”).[15][9][16]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. 591
  3. ^ a b c d e f Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 632
  4. ^ a b Νικολαΐδης, Κωνσταντίνος (1909), Ετυμολογικόν λεξικόν της κουτσοβλαχικής γλώσσης, Αθήνα, p. 258
  5. ^ a b c d Weigand, Gustav (1894), Die Aromunen: ethnographisch-philologisch-historische Untersuchungen, vol. II: Volksliteratur der Aromunen (with a glossary), Leipzig: J. A. Barth, p. 314
  6. ^ a b c 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. 77
  7. ^ a b c Mihăileanu, Ștefan (1901), Dicționar macedo-român, București, p. 264
  8. ^ a b c Δασούλας, Φώτης (2013), Το βλαχικό ιδίωμα του Μετσόβου, 2nd ed.
  9. ^ 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. 2, 58
  10. ^ 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)
  11. ^ a b Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  12. ^ a b Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
  13. ^ a b c Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net)
  14. ^ a b Papahagi, Pericle (1905), Basme aromâne și glosar, București: Academia Română, p. 628
  15. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1974), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, 2nd augmented ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. 742
  16. ^ 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. 368