Etymologically
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trã

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Forms

trã[1]

  • Also tri, tã and ti;[2] Papahagi enters TRÀ and TRÎ, with tri and tă.[3][4]
  • Other spellings: tră in Mihăileanu's Romanian-based spelling;[5] Tră in Papahagi's glossary to his folk tales, which explains ta as the same word without its r;[6] tra in Weigand's glossary[7] and in Daniil's Tetraglosson.[8]
  • Pascu lists tă, ntre, între, ndre, nträ, tre, trea and tri.[9]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin inter (“between, among”) according to Pascu,[9] and Ciorănescu and Pușcariu list the Aromanian word with the Romanian cognate of inter, Romanian între.[10][11] Papahagi derives it from intrā (“within”), following Capidan,[3][4] Candrea and Densusianu put it with the descendants of intrō (“inside”),[12] and Wiktionary derives it from trāns (“across”).[1] Capidan notes that it is not known whether the preposition and the conjunction tra have the same origin.[13] For its uses Papahagi compares Modern Greek διά (diá, “for”), Albanian për (“for”) and Italian tra (“between, within”).[4]

De Vaan traces inter to Proto-Italic *nter and Proto-Indo-European *h₁(e)nter (“between”).[14] Besides Romanian între, its cognates are Megleno-Romanian antri and Istro-Romanian ăntre.[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first records are in Daniil of Moscopole's Tetraglosson, where tra ómnlu translates Greek διὰ τὸν ἄνθρωπον “for the man”.[8]

Semantic evolution

The word is a preposition of purpose, “for”, and has taken on a wide range of uses: “of, to be” before a verbal noun, “as”, “towards”, “instead of”, and in time “after”.[3][4][15][6][13] Papahagi quotes trî mult an'i! “many happy returns!”,[4] and the folk tales have tră frică easte “it is to be feared” and tră puţină oară “after a little while”.[6]

Timeline

  • 1794–1802 – tra ómnlu “for the man” in Daniil's Tetraglosson, as printed by Leake in 1814.[8]
  • 1894 – tra in Weigand's glossary.[7]
  • 1901 – tră “for” in Mihăileanu's dictionary.[5]
  • 1925 – Pascu derives it from Latin inter.[9]

Meanings

Preposition

  1. For: for the sake or use of; for the purpose of.[15][3][5]
  2. Of, to be (before a verbal noun).[6][13]
  3. As, in the role of.[6]
  4. Towards.[4][15]
  5. Instead of.[4][15]
  6. (of time) After.[3][9][6]
  • Romanian între

Usage notes

Cunia and Papahagi enter the conjunction tra separately: it is always followed by sã and means “in order to”.[16][17] Capidan describes tra as mostly a conjunction and trã as only a preposition.[13]

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net), p. 1025
  3. ^ a b c d e Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1044
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1048
  5. ^ a b c Mihăileanu, Ștefan (1901), Dicționar macedo-român, București, p. 508
  6. ^ a b c d e f Papahagi, Pericle (1905), Basme aromâne și glosar, București: Academia Română, p. 717
  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. 333
  8. ^ a b c Leake, William Martin (1814), Researches in Greece, London (prints Daniil of Moscopole's Tetraglosson), p. 384
  9. ^ 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, 171
  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. ^ Pușcariu, Sextil (1905), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der rumänischen Sprache I: Lateinisches Element, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 78
  12. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Densusianu, Ov. (1907–1914), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române: elementele latine (A–Putea), București
  13. ^ a b c d Capidan, Theodor (1932), Aromânii: dialectul aromân. Studiu lingvistic, București: Academia Română (Academia Română, Studii și cercetări XX), p. 507
  14. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  15. ^ 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)
  16. ^ Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net), p. 1022
  17. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1974), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, 2nd augmented ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. 1189