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mãni

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Etymology and origin of the Aromanian word mãni

mãni1 tomorrow

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
1770 Kavalliotis's Protopeiria
Inherited from
Latin mane
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European *meh₂-no-
Etymology tree of mãni1
inherited borrowed derived
Latin mane
Aromanian mãni

Forms

mãni[1]

  • Other spellings: mãne beside mãni in Cunia;[2] MÎ'NE in Papahagi's dictionary;[3] μᾶνε (mane) in Nikolaidis;[4] Μᾶνε in the Greek script of Kavalliotis's word list.[5] Pascu heads it mîne and gives măne from Boiagi.[6] Wiktionary gives mãne and meni as alternative forms.[1]

Etymology

The adverb is inherited from Latin māne (“in the morning, early”).[3][6][1] De Vaan explains the Latin word as a derivative of the adjective mānus (“good”), from Proto-Italic *māno- and Proto-Indo-European *meh₂-no- (“good”).[7]

The word is common to the four Eastern Romance languages: Romanian mâine, Megleno-Romanian mǫini and Istro-Romanian măre.[8][9] Elsewhere the Latin word gave Old Italian mane and Old French main "morning", and the meaning "tomorrow" is shared by Romanian.[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Kavalliotis's word list of 1770, where Μᾶνε translates Modern Greek αύριο (ávrio, “tomorrow”).[5]

Semantic evolution

From the Latin "in the morning", the word moved to "the next morning", "tomorrow", a shift it shares with Romanian.[10][6] It is also used as an invariable noun, "the next day": Cunia records alantã mãni ("the day after tomorrow") and dzua di mãni ("the future").[2]

Timeline

  • 1770 – Μᾶνε “tomorrow” in Kavalliotis's word list.[5]
  • 1813 – măne in Boiagi's grammar, as cited by Pascu.[6]
  • 1909 – μᾶνε “tomorrow” in Nikolaidis's dictionary.[4]

Meanings

Adverb

  1. Tomorrow.[2][3][1]

Noun

  1. (invariable) The next day, tomorrow.[2][3]

mãni2 but

Confidence
Disputed
Formation
Borrowing
Borrowed from
Modern Greek μούνε
Ultimate origin
Modern Greek μούνε

Forms

  • mãni, conjunction.[11]
  • Other spellings: MĂNÍ in Papahagi's dictionary;[12] mâni in DIARO;[13] Măni in Geagea, who also quotes min and mini from texts.[14]

Etymology

Papahagi gives no etymon for it.[12] Geagea takes it as borrowed from Modern Greek μούνε (moúne, “however, only”), after Thumb, and notes that Pascu derives it from Ancient Greek μέν (mén, “indeed, certainly”).[14] Kriaras records μούνε as a Medieval Greek form of μόνον (mónon, “only”).[15]

Semantic evolution

It means "but", "however", and also "rather" after a negation;[11][12][13] Cunia gives mash, mãn, ma and ama as words of the same meaning.[11][12][13]

Meanings

Conjunction

  1. But, however; rather.[11][12][14]
  • Romanian mâine
  • Megleno-Romanian mǫini
  • Istro-Romanian măre

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net), p. 627
  3. ^ a b c d Papahagi, Tache (1974), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, 2nd augmented ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. 813
  4. ^ a b Νικολαΐδης, Κωνσταντίνος (1909), Ετυμολογικόν λεξικόν της κουτσοβλαχικής γλώσσης, Αθήνα, p. 277
  5. ^ 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. 23
  6. ^ a b c d 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, 119
  7. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  8. ^ Ciorănescu, Alexandru (1958–1966), Diccionario etimológico rumano, La Laguna: Universidad de La Laguna (Romanian ed.: Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române, București: Saeculum, 2001)
  9. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Densusianu, Ov. (1907–1914), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române: elementele latine (A–Putea), București
  10. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  11. ^ a b c d Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net), p. 628
  12. ^ a b c d e Papahagi, Tache (1974), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, 2nd augmented ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. 779
  13. ^ a b c Caragiu Marioțeanu, Matilda et al. (1997), Dicționar aromân (macedo-vlah) DIARO, A–D, București, p. 244
  14. ^ 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. 372
  15. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr

Related etymologies

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

“Mãni.” Etymologically, 26 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/rup/m%C3%A3ni. Accessed 27 Oct. 2026.

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