Etymologically
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nitsi

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Forms

nitsi[1]

  • Other spellings: nitse, Cunia's second form of the headword;[2] nitse, nichi and niche as Wiktionary's alternative forms;[1] niți in the Romanian-based spelling of Dalametra and of DIARO;[3][4] nitsi in Weigand's glossary.[5]
  • Variants: Cunia refers nits and netsi to this word and lists nintsi beside it;[2][6] Papahagi has nínți, from Mihăileanu, as a form of it.[7]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin neque (“and not, nor”),[1][8][9][10] which Latin formed from the negation ne- (“not”) and the enclitic -que (“and”).[11][12] De Vaan reconstructs Proto-Italic *nekʷe (“and not”) and traces the negation to Proto-Indo-European *ne (“not”);[12] Wiktionary gives the compound as *nékʷe (“and not, neither, nor”).[1]

The word is shared with Romanian nici and Megleno-Romanian nitsi.[9][10][8] Papahagi derives the compound nițiún (“nobody”) from neque with ūnus (“one”),[13] and Ciorănescu and Pușcariu explain Istro-Romanian niciur (“no one”) and the Daco-Romanian and Megleno-Romanian compounds the same way.[9][10] Elsewhere in Romance the Latin word gave Italian né, French ni, Spanish ni and Portuguese nem.[14][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The oldest dated record in the sources is Weigand's glossary of 1894, which translates nitsi as “also not, not even” and quotes nitsi un “not one”.[5]

Semantic evolution

Latin neque meant “and not, nor”.[11] Aromanian kept it as the negative conjunction “neither … nor”, “nor”, and as an adverb “not even”.[1][15] Dalametra quotes niți eu nu yin (“nor do I come”), niți-un “not one, no” and niți înă-oâră “never”,[3] and Papahagi has the compound nițiún “nobody”.[13]

Timeline

  • 1894 – nitsi “also not, not even” in Weigand's glossary.[5]
  • 1906 – niți “nor”, with niți-un “no one”, in Dalametra's dictionary.[3]

Meanings

Conjunction

  1. Neither … nor; nor, or (after a negation).[1][15][3]

Adverb

  1. Not even; also not.[1][5][15]
  • Romanian nici
  • Megleno-Romanian nitsi

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net), p. 743
  3. ^ a b c d Dalametra, I. (1906), Dicționar macedo-român, București: Academia Română, p. 149
  4. ^ Caragiu Marioțeanu, Matilda et al. (1997), Dicționar aromân (macedo-vlah) DIARO, A–D, București, p. 237
  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. 320
  6. ^ Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net), p. 725
  7. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 768
  8. ^ a b Capidan, Theodor (1935), Meglenoromânii III: Dicționar meglenoromân, București: Academia Română, p. 207
  9. ^ 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)
  10. ^ a b c Pușcariu, Sextil (1905), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der rumänischen Sprache I: Lateinisches Element, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
  11. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  12. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  13. ^ a b Papahagi, Tache (1974), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, 2nd augmented ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. 899
  14. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  15. ^ a b c Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net)