ameți

Where it comes from

Possibly from a Vulgar Latin *ammatīre, from Late Latin mattus (“drunk, intoxicated”), from Latin madidus or *maditus, from madere (“be wet”) (cf. Italian ammattire (“to go crazy, insane”), matto (“insane, mad, crazy”)). Alternatively, from a Vulgar Latin root *ammatteāre (with a later change of conjugation in Romanian; compare Italian ammazzare (“to kill”), Spanish mazar), from *mattea (“club, mace, mallet, heavy stick, etc.”), whence Romanian măciucă (with a diminutive suffix), Italian mazza, Spanish maza. The original meaning in the Romanian word was probably "to hit, smack, beat senseless" (with a weapon such as a club), which then may have evolved into its current one of "to stun, make dizzy", while in Italian this became "to kill".