Etymologically
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shi

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Pronunciation

Forms

shi[1]

  • Before a vowel it is shortened to sh and joined to the neighbouring word (sh-, -sh).[2]
  • Other spellings: ȘI in Papahagi's dictionary;[3] și in the Romanian-based spelling of DIARO;[4] Pascu records și, șă and the shortened ș in the older grammars and dictionaries.[5]
  • Regional forms: Weigand records si with a variant so, which he says is common above all in Albania and also around Monastir, and a shortened s, voiced to z before voiced sounds (z doi).[6]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin sīc (“so, thus, in this way”).[5][3][1] The Latin adverb is the locative of an old demonstrative stem *so- with the particle -ce;[7] Wiktionary explains it as the regular shortening of an older sīce, from sī and the same particle.[1]

The word is common to the four Eastern Romance languages: Romanian și, Megleno-Romanian și and Istro-Romanian şi.[8][9][10] Only there did it become the ordinary word for “and”: in the western languages its descendants Italian si, French si, Spanish si and Portuguese sim kept the sense “so”, and in Italian, Spanish and Portuguese it became the word for “yes”.[8][11] Old French si also meant “and” when it joined clauses.[12]

Earliest recorded meaning

The oldest record the sources cite is Boiagi's grammar of 1813, from which Pascu quotes the conjunction.[5]

Semantic evolution

From the Latin sense “so, in this way”, which joined a clause to what preceded it, the word became the ordinary conjunction “and” in Eastern Romance.[8][11] In Aromanian it joins words and clauses,[13][3] and it can set two clauses against each other (“and yet, while”).[14] As an adverb it means “also, too” and “even”, and shi s- with a verb means “even if”.[3][5][4] Cunia records the phrase sh-tsi cara “I don't care”.[2]

Timeline

  • 1813 – the conjunction in Boiagi's grammar, as cited by Pascu.[5]
  • 1894 – si “and, also” in Weigand's glossary.[6]
  • 1963 – și “and; also; even” in Papahagi's dictionary.[15]

Meanings

Conjunction

  1. and.[13][3][1][6]
  2. And yet, while, setting two clauses against each other.[14]

Adverb

  1. also, too.[1][3][5]
  2. even; with s- and a verb, “even if”.[3][4]
  • Romanian și
  • Istro-Romanian şi

Usage notes

Cunia lists a second shi, also ãsh and sh, the reflexive dative pronoun of the third person (“to oneself, one's own”);[2] Mihăileanu has it as și, the reflexive dative.[16] It is not the same word as si, which Papahagi heads twice: the subjunctive particle, from Latin sī (“if”), and the reflexive accusative pronoun, from sē (“oneself”).[17]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net), p. 930
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Papahagi, Tache (1974), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, 2nd augmented ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. 1083
  4. ^ a b c Caragiu Marioțeanu, Matilda et al. (1997), Dicționar aromân (macedo-vlah) DIARO, A–D, București, p. 237
  5. ^ a b c d e f 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, 166
  6. ^ a b c Weigand, Gustav (1894), Die Aromunen: ethnographisch-philologisch-historische Untersuchungen, vol. II: Volksliteratur der Aromunen (with a glossary), Leipzig: J. A. Barth, p. 331
  7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ 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)
  9. ^ Capidan, Theodor (1935), Meglenoromânii III: Dicționar meglenoromân, București: Academia Română, p. 284
  10. ^ Kovačec, August (1998), Istrorumunjsko-hrvatski rječnik (s gramatikom i tekstovima), Pula
  11. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  12. ^ Pușcariu, Sextil (1905), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der rumänischen Sprache I: Lateinisches Element, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 144
  13. ^ a b Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net)
  14. ^ a b Caragiu Marioțeanu, Matilda et al. (1997), Dicționar aromân (macedo-vlah) DIARO, A–D, București
  15. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1005
  16. ^ Mihăileanu, Ștefan (1901), Dicționar macedo-român, București, p. 464
  17. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 943