puțin
Romanian
Etymology
Uncertain, as with a number of similar words across the Romance languages. Probably from Vulgar Latin *putīnus, a blend/alteration of Latin pisinnus, pittinnus and putillus, pusillus, all meaning “a teeny boy”. Compare Aromanian putsãn; further Albanian picërr, Italian piccino and piccolo, French petit and pitchoun (from Nissart Occitan), Old Logudorese pithinnu, Tarantino piččinnu.[1]
An alternative, perhaps less likely, theory derives it from a Vulgar Latin root *paucīnus, from Latin paucus (“few, little”).[2] Cf. Italian pochino (“a small amount”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): [puˈt͡sin]
Audio (file)
Adjective
puțin m or n (feminine singular puțină, masculine plural puțini, feminine and neuter plural puține)
(determiner)
Declension
Adverb
puțin
Derived terms
References
- Przemysław Dębowiak, “Contribution à l’étymologie des adjectifs romans signifiant ‘petit’,” in Essays in the History of Languages and Linguistics: Dedicated to Marek Stachowski on the Occasion of His 60th Birthday, eds. Michał Németh, Barbara Podolak, & Mateusz Urban (Krakow: Księgarnia Akademicka, 2017), 175–90.
- http://www.dex.ro/pu%C8%9Bin
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