moș
Romanian
Etymology
Uncertain. Moș and its feminine counterpart moașă (“midwife; old woman”) (which appears to be older[1][2]) are often considered substratum words related to Albanian moshë or derived from it,[3] but can also possibly be from Latin annōsus (“aged, old, full of years”) with a loss of the initial vowel as in some other cases (compare mătușă, noaten, nămaie), and the -ș- sound formed as with coș. The change of -n- to -m- is more unusual, but has other instances as well (compare măgar, miel, miță). Its presence in all Eastern Romance languages (compare Aromanian mosh, moashi) and the addition of the prefix stră- also indicates that it is an old word and probably from a Latin source. [4]
Noun
moș m (plural moși)
- an old man
Declension
Declension of moș
Synonyms
Derived terms
See also
References
- ^ Alexandru Ciorănescu, Dicționarul etimologic român, s.v. "moș" (Tenerife: Universidad de la Laguna, 1958-1966).
- ^ Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române, ediția a II-a, ed. Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică Iorgu Iordan, s.v. "moș" (Univers Enciclopedic, 1998).
- ^ Orel, Vladimir E. (1998) “moș”, in Albanian Etymological Dictionary, Leiden, Boston, Köln: Brill, →ISBN, page 274
- ^ Romanian Explanatory Dictionary