Etymologically
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nãpoi

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Forms

nãpoi (adverb)[1]

  • Other spellings: napoi and nipoi in Cunia;[1] năpoi, nipoï, napoi, înapoi and nipoi in the texts Pascu cites, napoi among them from Boiagi;[2] napoi and năpói in Mihăileanu;[3] Νᾳπόϊ in the Greek script of Kavalliotis's word list.[4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *inappoe, as Pascu reconstructs it.[2] Candrea and Densusianu derive the same adverb from Latin in (“in”), ad (“to”) and post (“behind, after”);[5] Papahagi's index of etyma files it under the same Latin compound.[6]

It is shared with Romanian înapoi, dialectal năpoi in the Banat, and Megleno-Romanian năpoi (“then, back, again”).[5][2][7] The last part is the Latin adverb that also gave poi.[8] De Vaan traces post to Proto-Italic *posti (“behind, after”) and Proto-Indo-European *pos(ti) (“after”).[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Kavalliotis's word list of 1770 has Νᾳπόϊ for Modern Greek πάλιν (pálin, “again”).[4]

Semantic evolution

Pascu gives two senses, backwards or behind, and again.[2] Mihăileanu separates them by stress: napoi backwards, năpói again.[3] Cunia adds after, and nevertheless, and the phrases ma nãpoi (later) and dau nãpoi (to shrink from doing something).[1]

Timeline

  • 1770 – Νᾳπόϊ “again” in Kavalliotis's word list.[4]
  • 1813 – napoi in Boiagi's grammar, as Pascu quotes it.[2]
  • 1901 – napoi “backwards” and năpói “again” in Mihăileanu's dictionary.[3]

Meanings

Adverb

  1. back, backwards; behind.[1][2][3]
  2. again, once more.[1][3][4]
  3. afterwards, later.[1]
  4. nevertheless.[1]
  • Romanian înapoi
  • Megleno-Romanian năpoi

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net), p. 700
  2. ^ a b c d e f 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, 140
  3. ^ a b c d e Mihăileanu, Ștefan (1901), Dicționar macedo-român, București, p. 336
  4. ^ a b c d 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. 93
  5. ^ a b Candrea, I.-A.; Densusianu, Ov. (1907–1914), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române: elementele latine (A–Putea), București
  6. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1161
  7. ^ Capidan, Theodor (1935), Meglenoromânii III: Dicționar meglenoromân, București: Academia Română
  8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  9. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill