prit

Forms

prit^[1]

• Other spellings: PRIT in Papahagi's dictionary;^[2] pritu in Mihăileanu's Romanian-based spelling;^[3] prit in Dalametra, who also gives pit;^[4][5] pr(i)tŭ in Bara's dictionary.^[6]
• Variants: Papahagi records pit and prin beside it and refers both to prit;^[7][8] Cunia lists pit, pin, pitru, pitu and prin as other forms of the same word.^[9]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin per (“through, across”) with intrō (“inside, within”): Papahagi derives it from these two Latin words,^[2] and Pascu files it among the Latin elements of Aromanian.^[10] Cunia describes it as a shortened form of the two prepositions pri and tu.^[9]

De Vaan traces the Latin preposition to Proto-Italic *peri (“through, across”) and Proto-Indo-European *péri (“across”).^[11] The OLD analyses the adverb as built on in (“in”).^[12] REW lists the descendants of the Latin preposition, among them Italian per and French par.^[13]

The Daco-Romanian prin (“through”) and Istro-Romanian prin are close in form and sense;^[14][15] Pușcariu and Byhan derive them from a Latin per in, and Pușcariu also allows a formation within Romanian from the prepositions for "on" and "in".^[14][15]

Earliest recorded meaning

Mihăileanu's dictionary of 1901 records pritu as a preposition meaning "through".^[3]

Semantic evolution

The word keeps the Latin sense of movement through a space: Papahagi glosses it as "through, among, across",^[2] and Cunia defines it as marking that something moves, passes or is found in the middle of a place, a time or a group of things.^[9] Wiktionary adds the sense "by, by means of".^[1] Papahagi quotes l'i-u scoáse prit nări ("he took it out of him through the nose"),^[2] and Cunia records lj-u scot prit nãri for reminding someone of every favour done to him, or making him pay back more than he received.^[9]

Timeline

• 1901 – pritu “through” in Mihăileanu's dictionary.^[3]
• 1905 – prit in Pericle Papahagi's glossary to his folk tales.^[16]
• 1906 – prit, with the variant pit, in Dalametra's dictionary.^[4]

Meanings

Preposition

1. Through, across.^[2][9][1]
2. Among, in the middle of.^[2][9]
3. By, by means of.^[1]

Related words

• Romanian prin

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Papahagi, Tache (1974), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, 2nd augmented ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. 1015
3. ^ a b c Mihăileanu, Ștefan (1901), Dicționar macedo-român, București, p. 425
4. ^ a b Dalametra, I. (1906), Dicționar macedo-român, București: Academia Română, p. 176
5. ^ Dalametra, I. (1906), Dicționar macedo-român, București: Academia Română, p. 171
6. ^ Bara, Mariana (2024), Dictsiunarlu ti cathi dzuuã, online at dixionline.net
7. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1974), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, 2nd augmented ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. 984
8. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1974), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, 2nd augmented ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. 1013
9. ^ a b c d e f Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net), p. 855
10. ^ 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, 147
11. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
12. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
13. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
14. ^ a b Pușcariu, Sextil (1905), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der rumänischen Sprache I: Lateinisches Element, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 121
15. ^ a b Byhan, Arthur (1899), Istrorumänisches Glossar, Sechster Jahresbericht des Instituts für rumänische Sprache zu Leipzig: 174–366, p. 319
16. ^ Papahagi, Pericle (1905), Basme aromâne și glosar, București: Academia Română, p. 685