Etymologically
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noapti

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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]
  • 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