Etymologically
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sum

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Forms

sum[1]

  • Also sun and su, which Wiktionary gives as alternative forms;[1] Dalametra records sum and sun,[2] and Papahagi refers sun to this preposition.[3]
  • Other spellings: SUM in Papahagi's dictionary;[4] súm in Mihăileanu's dictionary.[5]
  • Pascu lists suptu and suntu from Nikolaidis, su from Nikolaidis, Dalametra and Papahagi's tales, and sub from Boiagi's grammar.[6]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin subtus (“underneath, below”),[6][1] an adverb that Latin also used as a preposition.[6][7] The Latin word was formed from sub (“under”), with its ending on the model of intus (“inside”).[7][8] De Vaan traces sub to Proto-Italic *supo and Proto-Indo-European *(h₁)upo (“up, from below”).[9]

The word is shared by the four Eastern Romance languages: Romanian sub (also supt), Megleno-Romanian sup and Istro-Romanian su.[10] Ciorănescu derives the Romanian word from the same Latin subtus, which also gave Italian sotto, French sous and Portuguese sob.[10][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

The oldest dated record is the form sub, which Pascu cites from Boiagi's grammar,[6] printed in Vienna in 1813.[12] The dictionaries give the sense "under".[13][5]

Semantic evolution

The Latin adverb meant "underneath, below".[7] Aromanian uses the word only as a preposition, for something placed under another thing or lower than it.[13][4] Papahagi quotes pri sum merí, pri sum peri "under the apple trees, under the pear trees",[4] and Mihăileanu nă disvursimu sum núcu "we rested under the walnut tree".[5]

Timeline

  • 1813 – sub in Boiagi's grammar, as cited by Pascu.[6][12]
  • 1901 – súm “under” in Mihăileanu's dictionary.[5]
  • 1906 – sum and sun in Dalametra's dictionary.[2]
  • 1925 – Pascu derives it from Latin subtus.[6]

Meanings

Preposition

  1. under, beneath: in a position below something that lies over it.[13][4][1]
  2. Lower down than something.[13]
  • Romanian sub

Usage notes

Papahagi has a second sum "saint", used before saints' names (Sum-Vasílïi "Saint Basil"), which he derives from Latin sanctus;[4] Capidan explains Sumedru "Saint Demetrius" the same way.[14]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b Dalametra, I. (1906), Dicționar macedo-român, București: Academia Română, p. 199
  3. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1974), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, 2nd augmented ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. 1135
  4. ^ a b c d e Papahagi, Tache (1974), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, 2nd augmented ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. 1133
  5. ^ a b c d Mihăileanu, Ștefan (1901), Dicționar macedo-român, București, p. 486
  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, 163
  7. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  9. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  10. ^ 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)
  11. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  12. ^ a b Caragiu Marioțeanu, Matilda et al. (1997), Dicționar aromân (macedo-vlah) DIARO, A–D, București, p. 54
  13. ^ a b c d Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net)
  14. ^ Capidan, Theodor (1932), Aromânii: dialectul aromân. Studiu lingvistic, București: Academia Română (Academia Română, Studii și cercetări XX), p. 222