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.
Related Articles
- [[index]]
- [[sapovici-genealogia-soi]]
- [[sapovici-mic-glosar-expresive]]