arm

Forms

arm n (plural armuri)^[1] A masculine armur or armure occurs in Dosoftei's Parimiar: „os cătră armurele său” “bone to its thigh bone”.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin armus (“shoulder or upper arm of an animal”).^[3][4][5][6] Latin ⟨armus⟩ continues an Indo-European word for ⟨arm⟩, and de Vaan reconstructs Proto-Indo-European *h₂erH-mo-.^[7] It survives in Aromanian armu, and the Romance cognates include Sardinian armu.^[8][9][4]

The variant ⟨armur⟩ was remade from the plural ⟨armuri⟩, as Hasdeu, the DA and Ciorănescu explain.^[3][4] Cihac and Pușcariu had derived it from a Latin diminutive *armulus.^[3][5] The derivative armurar, a cattle disease and the plant used against it, was borrowed by Hungarian: armurár.^[4][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is the Anonymus Caransebesiensis of about 1650, which glosses arm with Latin armus.^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

Latin armus was the shoulder of an animal, while Romanian arm is the upper part of the hind leg.^[10][11] In the old texts it is also a person's thigh or hip.^[2][6] The Bucharest Bible of 1688 has „Pune-ți mâna ta supt armul mieu” “put your hand under my thigh” (Genesis 24:2).^[12] Ciorănescu notes that the sense “thigh” lives on in Oltenia, though the dictionaries missed it.^[4] In Mehedinți a plural armi means “arms”.^[13]

Timeline

• c. 1650 – first record, in the Anonymus Caransebesiensis.^[3]
• 1688 – armul “thigh” in the Bucharest Bible.^[12]
• 1780–1801 – the derivative armurare, a cattle disease.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. (regional) The upper part of an animal's hind leg, between the croup and the gaskin, the haunch.^[11][6]
2. (regional, of a person) The thigh, the hip.^[11][4]

Word family

• armariu
• armurare
• armurariță
• armurar

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Costinescu, Mariana; Georgescu, Magdalena; Zgraon, Florentina (1987), Dicționarul limbii române literare vechi (1640–1780): termeni regionali, București: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică, p. 1, 55
3. ^ a b c d e f g Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2011–), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române (DELR), vol. I: A–B (2011), vol. II: C (2015–2018), București: Editura Academiei Române; continued online at delr.lingv.ro, p. s.v. arm
4. ^ a b c d e f Ciorănescu, Alexandru (1958–1966), Diccionario etimológico rumano, La Laguna: Universidad de La Laguna (Romanian ed.: Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române, București: Saeculum, 2001), p. s.v. arm
5. ^ a b Pușcariu, Sextil (1905), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der rumänischen Sprache I: Lateinisches Element, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 11
6. ^ a b c Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 99
7. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
8. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 147
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 661
10. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ a b c DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1, 62
12. ^ a b Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. arm
13. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Densusianu, Ov. (1907–1914), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române: elementele latine (A–Putea), București, p. s.v. arm