Processed from: Nota_etimologica_agonisi_ghiftui_paragin.txt
Date Compiled: 2026-04-12
Sapovici — Note Etimologice: Agonisi, Ghiptui, Paragină¶
Author: Anca Mihaela Sapovici
Type: Etymological note (journal article)
Topic: Romanian words of Byzantine Greek origin
Summary¶
Three etymological notes on Romanian words of Byzantine/Neo-Greek origin:
1. agonisi¶
- From Byzantine Greek verb ἀγωνίζομαι (to struggle, fight, compete)
- Aorist sigmatic: ἠγωνισάμην → Romanian agonisi
- Meaning in Romanian: "to acquire through effort, to gain by hard work, to save"
- First attested early 16th century (Psaltirea Hurmuzaki)
- Entered Romanian via commercial Byzantine-Greek contact, possibly as early as 10th–12th century
- Unlike many Phanariot-era borrowings, agonisi retained its neutral/stylistic mark
2. ghiptui¶
- From Neo-Greek γεύομαι (aor. ἐγεύθηκα) — "to taste, to eat"
- Romanian: "to stuff with food, overfeed, gorge"
- Often in colloquial/reflexive use (a se ghiptui)
- Like many Phanariot-era borrowings, entered via spoken Greek — half of attestations in DA come from colloquial sources
3. paragină¶
- From Neo-Greek παραγίνομαι (aor. παράγινα) — "to be present, to arrive"
- Romanian: "uncultivated land, wasteland, ruin" — sense shift from "arrival/presence" to "overripe, abandoned"
- Etymology listed as uncertain in DLR — Sapovici proposes ngr. derivation
- Phonetic and semantic fit plausible but not proven
Key Concepts¶
- byzantine-greek-vocabulary — Byzantine/Medieval Greek loanwords in Romanian
- phanariot-period — period of Greek influence
- deponent-verbs — Greek deponent verbs as source of Romanian borrowings
Status¶
Source article — short etymological note.