noapti

Forms

noapti f (plural noptsã, definite articulation noaptea)^[1]

• Plural noptsã, definite singular noaptea.^[1][2]
• Other spellings: noapte and nopti in Wiktionary;^[1] noapte beside noapti in Cunia;^[2] NOAPTE in Papahagi's dictionary;^[3] NOAPTE, plural nopți, in Pascu;^[4] noăpti in Dalametra's Romanian-based spelling;^[5] noaptea (the articled form) in Mihăileanu;^[6] noapte in Weigand's glossary;^[7] noapte in Meyer's reading of Kavalliotis's word list;^[8] noáptie in Daniil's Tetraglosson as Leake printed it.^[9]
• Regional forms: noápte, plural nóptsî, in the dialect of Metsovo.^[10]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin nox (“night”), in its accusative form.^{[3][4][1][11]} De Vaan traces the Latin noun to Proto-Italic *nokʷ-t- and Proto-Indo-European *nógʷʰ-t-s (“night”), the source also of Ancient Greek νύξ (núx, “night”) and Lithuanian naktìs (“night”).^[12]

The word is common to the four Eastern Romance languages: Romanian noapte, Megleno-Romanian noapti and Istro-Romanian nopte.^[11][13][14] Further west the same Latin word gave Italian notte, French nuit, Spanish noche and Portuguese noite.^[11][13]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Kavalliotis's Greek–Aromanian–Albanian word list of 1770, where the word, which its editor Meyer reads noapte, translates Modern Greek νύχτα (níchta, “night”).^[8]

Semantic evolution

The Latin word meant the time between sunset and sunrise,^[15] and Aromanian kept that sense.^[2][1] Several set phrases are built on it: noapti bunã "good night", said when people part in the evening;^[2] om di-a noaptiljei, a man of the night, that is a thief or a bad man, a phrase Papahagi also records for a brigand;^[2][3] mi scol cu noaptea n cap ("I get up with the night on my head"), for getting up very early;^[2][16] and noaptea u fac dzuã ("I make the night day"), of someone who works without stopping.^[2][3] Dalametra also glosses it as darkness,^[5] and in Metsovo it stands for darkness and, figuratively, for an ugly woman.^[10]

Timeline

• 1770 – noapte (in Meyer's reading) “night” in Kavalliotis's word list.^[8]
• 1802 – noáptie in a phrase of Daniil's Tetraglosson, as printed by Leake in 1814.^[9]
• 1894 – noapte “night” in Weigand's glossary.^[7]
• 1901 – noaptea “the night” in Mihăileanu's dictionary.^[6]
• 1925 – Pascu derives it from Latin nox.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. night, the time of darkness between sunset and dawn.^[2][1][3]
2. Darkness.^[5][10]
3. (figurative, Metsovo) An ugly woman.^[10]

Related words

• Romanian noapte

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net), p. 750
3. ^ a b c d e Papahagi, Tache (1974), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, 2nd augmented ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. 903
4. ^ a b c 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, 127
5. ^ a b c Dalametra, I. (1906), Dicționar macedo-român, București: Academia Română, p. 149
6. ^ a b Mihăileanu, Ștefan (1901), Dicționar macedo-român, București, p. 367
7. ^ a b Weigand, Gustav (1894), Die Aromunen: ethnographisch-philologisch-historische Untersuchungen, vol. II: Volksliteratur der Aromunen (with a glossary), Leipzig: J. A. Barth, p. 320
8. ^ 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. 89
9. ^ a b Leake, William Martin (1814), Researches in Greece, London (prints Daniil of Moscopole's Tetraglosson), p. 391
10. ^ a b c d Δασούλας, Φώτης (2013), Το βλαχικό ιδίωμα του Μετσόβου, 2nd ed.
11. ^ a b c Ciorănescu, Alexandru (1958–1966), Diccionario etimológico rumano, La Laguna: Universidad de La Laguna (Romanian ed.: Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române, București: Saeculum, 2001)
12. ^ 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 Candrea, I.-A.; Densusianu, Ov. (1907–1914), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române: elementele latine (A–Putea), București
14. ^ Capidan, Theodor (1935), Meglenoromânii III: Dicționar meglenoromân, București: Academia Română, p. 207
15. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
16. ^ Papahagi, Pericle (1905), Basme aromâne și glosar, București: Academia Română, p. 661