Etymologically
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nvets

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Forms

nvets (third-person singular nveatsã, participle nvitsatã or nvãtsate)[1]

  • Verb of the first conjugation: third person singular nveatsã, participle nvitsatã or nvãtsate;[1] aorist nvitsai, infinitive nvitsari in Cunia,[2] aorist nvitsai, participle nvitsatu in Katsanis and Dinas.[3]
  • Other spellings: nvetsu, anvets, anvetsu, vets and vetsu in Wiktionary;[1] anvets and vets as variants in Cunia;[2] NVEȚU in Papahagi's dictionary;[4] Νβέτζου in Kavalliotis's word list, which its editor reads as nvetsu.[5] Pascu lists the infinitives nvițare, învițare, anvițare, învețare (Boiagi) and the Fărșerot vițare from Papahagi's folk tales.[6]
  • Weigand records nvets in both senses, "I learn" and "I teach".[7]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *invitiō (“to teach”),[4][6][3][1][8] from vitium (“fault, vice”).[1][9] Pascu explains the sense from "to spoil, corrupt" through "to make someone take on bad habits" to "to train in something".[6] De Vaan traces vitium to Proto-Italic *witio- (“deviation, fault”) and Proto-Indo-European *(d)ui-tio- (“apart, wrong”).[10]

The word is common to the four Eastern Romance languages: Romanian învăța, Megleno-Romanian anveț and Istro-Romanian mețu or anmețu.[9] Further west it gave southern Italian dialect forms meaning "to teach", Judaeo-Spanish embezar, Italian invezzare, Old Occitan envezar and Old French envoisier, the last two meaning "to amuse".[8][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Kavalliotis's word list of 1770 Νβέτζου translates Modern Greek μαθαίνω (mathéno, “to learn”).[5]

Semantic evolution

Papahagi lists four senses: to teach and to learn, to advise, to find out, and to get used to.[4] The noun nvets "teaching, advice, habit" belongs with it;[4][11] Papahagi quotes nvéțlu nu ári márdzine "learning has no limit".[4][11]

Timeline

  • 1770 – Νβέτζου “I learn” in Kavalliotis's word list.[5]
  • 1813 – învețare in Boiagi's grammar, as cited by Pascu.[6]
  • 1894 – nvets “I learn, I teach” in Weigand's glossary.[7]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To learn; to study.[2][4][1]
  2. (transitive) To teach.[2][4][1]
  3. To advise.[2][4][1]
  4. To find out (news).[4][2]
  5. (reflexive) To get used to.[2][4][1]

Word family

  • nvitsãturã
  • nvitsari
  • nvitsat
  • Romanian învăța

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ 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. 766
  3. ^ a b Κατσάνης, Νικόλαος; Ντίνας, Κωνσταντίνος (1990), Γραμματική της κοινής κουτσοβλαχικής, Θεσσαλονίκη: Αρχείο Κουτσοβλαχικών Μελετών, p. 140
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 791
  5. ^ 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. 81
  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, 131
  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. 321
  8. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  9. ^ 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)
  10. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  11. ^ a b Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net), p. 767