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ma

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ma1 more

Forms

ma[1]

  • Other spellings: MA 1 in Papahagi's dictionary, which cross-refers it to maĭ and mași;[2] ma in Dalametra,[3] Mihăileanu[4] and Weigand.[5]

Etymology

The adverb ma “more” is inherited from Latin magis (“more”),[2][6][1] a derivative of magnus (“great”); de Vaan reconstructs Proto-Italic *magis (“greater”) and Proto-Indo-European *mǵ-i(V)s- (“greater”).[7]

Candrea and Densusianu explain the Aromanian form: the Latin adverb became *mais and *mas, and later mai;[8] Aromanian ma continues *mas used as an unstressed word.[9] The other Eastern Romance languages have Romanian mai, Megleno-Romanian mai and Istro-Romanian mai.[9][8] Further west it gave Italian mai (“ever”), French mais (“but”), Spanish más (“more”) and Portuguese mais (“more”), and Romanian, Spanish and Portuguese use it to form the comparative.[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The oldest record Pascu cites is Boiagi's grammar of 1813, where it means “more”, forming the comparative.[6]

Semantic evolution

Besides “more”, with which it forms the comparative (ma mare “bigger”), Papahagi's dictionary records “still, again” (ma vreĭ? “do you want more?”) and “all the time, continually”.[2] Cunia likewise gives “more” and “without stopping”.[11] In P. Papahagi's tales it also means “as soon as”.[12]

Timeline

  • 1813 – recorded in Boiagi's grammar, as cited by Pascu.[6]
  • 1894 – ma “more”, with the comparative, in Weigand's glossary.[5]
  • 1901 – ma búnu di mine “better than me” in Mihăileanu's dictionary.[4]
  • 1906 – ma “more” in Dalametra's dictionary.[3]

Meanings

Adverb

  1. more; forms the comparative of adjectives and adverbs.[11][2][6]
  2. still, again.[2]
  3. All the time, continually.[11][2]
  4. (in P. Papahagi's tales) As soon as.[12]

ma2 but

Forms

ma[1]

  • Other spellings: MA 2 in Papahagi's dictionary;[2] mea in P. Papahagi's tales, as Pascu records;[13] ma in Dalametra,[3] Mihăileanu[4] and Weigand.[5]

Etymology

The conjunction ma “but” is borrowed from Italian ma (“but”) according to Papahagi's dictionary,[2] Pascu, who files it among the Romance loans,[13] and Wiktionary.[1] Papahagi and Pascu point to the same conjunction in Greek, Modern Greek μα (ma, “but”), and Albanian, Albanian ma;[2][13] Pușcariu notes ma “but” in Aromanian, Megleno- and Istro-Romanian, and also in Albanian, Greek and Croatian.[8] Babiniotis derives the Greek conjunction from Medieval Greek, which took it from Italian, and the Italian word from Latin;[14] Kriaras records it in Medieval Greek texts.[15]

Other scholars see another source: for the Megleno-Romanian conjunction ma Capidan thinks a Greek origin likely, after G. Meyer,[16] and the REW lists Aromanian ma “but” under Latin magis, beside French mais (“but”) and Spanish más (“more, but”).[10] Istro-Romanian has the conjunction too, ma.[17][18]

Earliest recorded meaning

The oldest record Pascu cites is Boiagi's grammar of 1813, for the senses “but” and “if”.[13]

Semantic evolution

Its first sense is “but”, at the head of a clause;[4][2] it also means “if”, as in Dalametra's ma nu vreĭ tini, eu va yin “if you don't want to, I will come”,[3] and Weigand records ma s “but if”.[5] Pascu adds “or else” from P. Papahagi's tales.[13]

Timeline

  • 1813 – recorded in Boiagi's grammar, as cited by Pascu.[13]
  • 1894 – ma “but” in Weigand's glossary.[5]
  • 1901 – ma “but, however” in Mihăileanu's dictionary.[4]
  • 1906 – ma “but; if” in Dalametra's dictionary.[3]

Meanings

Conjunction

  1. but, however.[19][2][4]
  2. if.[2][3][20]
  3. (in P. Papahagi's tales) Or else.[13]
  • Romanian mai
  • Megleno-Romanian ma

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Papahagi, Tache (1974), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, 2nd augmented ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. 762
  3. ^ a b c d e f Dalametra, I. (1906), Dicționar macedo-român, București: Academia Română, p. 125
  4. ^ a b c d e f Mihăileanu, Ștefan (1901), Dicționar macedo-român, București, p. 270
  5. ^ a b c d e Weigand, Gustav (1894), Die Aromunen: ethnographisch-philologisch-historische Untersuchungen, vol. II: Volksliteratur der Aromunen (with a glossary), Leipzig: J. A. Barth, p. 316
  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, 112
  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. ^ a b c Pușcariu, Sextil (1905), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der rumänischen Sprache I: Lateinisches Element, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 87
  9. ^ a b 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 Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net), p. 607
  12. ^ a b Papahagi, Pericle (1905), Basme aromâne și glosar, București: Academia Română, p. 633
  13. ^ 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, 212
  14. ^ Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας, p. 858
  15. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
  16. ^ Capidan, Theodor (1935), Meglenoromânii III: Dicționar meglenoromân, București: Academia Română, p. 178
  17. ^ Kovačec, August (1998), Istrorumunjsko-hrvatski rječnik (s gramatikom i tekstovima), Pula
  18. ^ Popovici, Iosif (1909), Dialectele romîne din Istria II: texte și glosar, Halle a. S., p. 122
  19. ^ Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net), p. 606
  20. ^ Caragiu Marioțeanu, Matilda et al. (1997), Dicționar aromân (macedo-vlah) DIARO, A–D, București, p. 344