yis

Forms

yis n (plural yisi or yise)^[1]

• Other spellings: YIS, plural yíse, in Papahagi's dictionary;^[2] visu, articled vislu, plural visile, in Mihăileanu's Romanian-based spelling;^[3] Vis, plural vise, in P. Papahagi's glossary to his tales;^[4] yis, plural vise, in Weigand's glossary.^[5]

Etymology

The noun yis “dream” is inherited from Latin vīsum (“something seen, a vision”),^[2][6][7] the neuter of the past participle of videō (“to see”).^[8] In Latin it meant an appearance, especially one seen in a dream,^[8] and the REW glosses it “dream”.^[9] De Vaan reconstructs Proto-Indo-European *uid-eh₁- (“to see”) for the verb.^[10]

The word is common to the Eastern Romance languages: Romanian vis, Megleno-Romanian vis and Istro-Romanian vis.^[6][11][12] Elsewhere it survives in Old French vis and Old Occitan vis, meaning “opinion”.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The oldest dictionary record is Weigand's glossary of 1894, which gives yis as “dream”.^[5]

Semantic evolution

Cunia defines it as the images and thoughts one has while asleep, and figuratively as fancies one has while awake;^[1] Papahagi's dictionary adds “vision”.^[2] Dreaming is “seeing the dream”: Papahagi quotes tsi-vidzuĭ yislu că va s' mori “I dreamt that you would die”,^[2] and P. Papahagi's tales have vidzu vislu cu oclji “he saw his dream with his own eyes”, that is, fulfilled.^[4]

Timeline

• 1894 – yis “dream”, plural vise, in Weigand's glossary.^[5]
• 1901 – visu “dream” in Mihăileanu's dictionary.^[3]
• 1905 – Vis in P. Papahagi's glossary to his tales.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A dream.^[1][2][5]
2. A vision.^[2]
3. (figurative) A fancy, a daydream.^[1]

Related words

• nyisedz
• Romanian vis

References

1. ^ 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), p. 1111
2. ^ a b c d e f Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 526
3. ^ a b Mihăileanu, Ștefan (1901), Dicționar macedo-român, București, p. 539
4. ^ a b c Papahagi, Pericle (1905), Basme aromâne și glosar, București: Academia Română, p. 739
5. ^ a b c d Weigand, Gustav (1894), Die Aromunen: ethnographisch-philologisch-historische Untersuchungen, vol. II: Volksliteratur der Aromunen (with a glossary), Leipzig: J. A. Barth, p. 339
6. ^ 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)
7. ^ a b Pușcariu, Sextil (1905), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der rumänischen Sprache I: Lateinisches Element, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 178
8. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
11. ^ Capidan, Theodor (1935), Meglenoromânii III: Dicționar meglenoromân, București: Academia Română, p. 328
12. ^ Kovačec, August (1998), Istrorumunjsko-hrvatski rječnik (s gramatikom i tekstovima), Pula