Etymologically
Log in

shtiu

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 26 October 2026 at 05:27. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Forms

shtiu (third-person singular shtii or shtie, participle shtiutã or shtiute)[1]

  • A verb of the third and second conjugations: aorist shtiui, imperfect shtiam or shteam, participle shtiutã, infinitive shtiri or shteari.[2]
  • Other spellings: shciu and sciu;[1] ȘTIŬ, aorist știúi, infinitive știre or șteáre, in Papahagi's dictionary, which also has sčiŭ and a subjunctive știbă;[3] štíu or štsiu, aorist štiúi, participle štiútă, in the Latin transcription of Nikolaidis;[4] Stiu in Meyer's reading of Kavalliotis's word list.[5]
  • Regional forms: the infinitive scire at Crușova and Bitola;[6] ştíu, infinitive şteáre, aorist ştiúi, participle ştiútă, in the dialect of Metsovo;[7] stiu, aorist stii and stsiuj, in Weigand's texts.[8]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin sciō (“to know”),[3][6][4][1] as Meyer already noted.[5] The verb is common to the four Eastern Romance languages: Romanian ști, Megleno-Romanian știu and Istro-Romanian știwu.[9][10][11] In the rest of Romance sapiō (“to taste; to be wise”) replaced it, except in Sardinian, which has Sardinian iskire.[11][9][4]

De Vaan reconstructs Proto-Italic *skije/o- (“to know”) and Proto-Indo-European *skh₁-i(e/o)- (“to incise”), and thinks that the simple verb was probably formed back from nesciō (“not to know”): knowing would come from distinguishing or deciding, and that from cutting.[12]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Kavalliotis's word list of 1770 the verb, which Meyer reads Stiu, translates Modern Greek ἠξεύρω (ixévro, “I know”).[5]

Semantic evolution

Aromanian kept the Latin sense: to know a fact, to be acquainted with a person, to know a language.[6][7] Papahagi adds the sense to take into account, to care about, which he illustrates with a couplet in which the speaker will care for his beloved only when Mount Olympus cares about its snow;[3] he also quotes șteá ca ápa (he knew it like water, that is, perfectly).[3] Cunia defines it as being sure that what one has in mind is true, and also as believing firmly.[2] Pascu lists the derivatives ştire (news, information) and ştiut (known; learned, skilful).[6]

Timeline

  • 1770 – Stiu (Meyer's reading) “I know” in Kavalliotis's word list.[5]
  • 1894 – stiu “know” in Weigand's glossary.[8]
  • 1909 – štíu in Nikolaidis's dictionary, derived from Latin scio.[4]
  • 1925 – Pascu derives it from Latin scire.[6]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To know a fact; to be sure that something is so.[2][3][1]
  2. To know, be acquainted with a person or a language.[3][6][7]
  3. To consider, take into account; to care about.[3][2][1]
  4. To believe firmly.[2]

Word family

  • shtiintsã
  • shtiri
  • shtiut
  • nishtiut
  • Romanian ști

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net), p. 936
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1012
  4. ^ a b c d Νικολαΐδης, Κωνσταντίνος (1909), Ετυμολογικόν λεξικόν της κουτσοβλαχικής γλώσσης, Αθήνα, p. 510
  5. ^ a b c d 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. 53
  6. ^ 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, 167
  7. ^ a b c Δασούλας, Φώτης (2013), Το βλαχικό ιδίωμα του Μετσόβου, 2nd ed.
  8. ^ a b Weigand, Gustav (1894), Die Aromunen: ethnographisch-philologisch-historische Untersuchungen, vol. II: Volksliteratur der Aromunen (with a glossary), Leipzig: J. A. Barth, p. 331
  9. ^ a b Ciorănescu, Alexandru (1958–1966), Diccionario etimológico rumano, La Laguna: Universidad de La Laguna (Romanian ed.: Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române, București: Saeculum, 2001)
  10. ^ Capidan, Theodor (1935), Meglenoromânii III: Dicționar meglenoromân, București: Academia Română, p. 286
  11. ^ a b Pușcariu, Sextil (1905), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der rumänischen Sprache I: Lateinisches Element, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
  12. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill