băutură

Forms

băutură f (plural băuturi)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *bibitūra (“drink”), from bibitus, the participle of bibō (“to drink”).^{[2][3][4][5][6][1]} DELR gives two explanations for the Romanian ⟨u⟩: Pascu takes the Latin word as remade into Vulgar Latin *bibūtūra after a late participle *bibūtus, the source of băut, while Pușcariu assumes a regular sound change.^[2] A derivative of bea “to drink” through its participle, proposed by Tiktin, is hard to tell apart from the inherited etymon, as Latin formed no nouns in ⟨-ura⟩ for drinks and used pōtiō instead.^[2][7]

It survives in all four branches: Aromanian biuturã, Megleno-Romanian biitură and Istro-Romanian beuturę.^[2][8] Related Romance forms are Italian bevitura, Sardinian bibidura and Old French boiture.^[3][9][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR dates the first record to about 1500, in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki, in the form beutură.^[2] The Codicele Voronețean (c. 1563–1583) has it in the sense “carousing”: „Îmblând întru ... multă beutură” “walking in ... much drinking”.^[3][4][7]

Semantic evolution

The word first named both the act of drinking and a drinking feast; the Bucharest Bible of 1688 says that Samson made a băutură of seven days.^[3] The feast sense is now dated.^[4] The concrete sense, a liquid that one drinks, especially an alcoholic one, became the main one;^[5] băuturi spirtoase are spirits.^[5][7] The abstract sense survives as heavy drinking: a se da la băutură is to take to drink, and a ține la băutură to hold one's liquor.^[7][5] The diminutive băuturică is recorded from 1870.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1500 – beutură in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki, the first record.^[2]
• c. 1563–1583 – beutură “carousing” in the Codicele Voronețean.^[3][4]
• 1688 – băutură “feast” in the Bucharest Bible.^[3]
• 1870 – the diminutive băuturică.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A drink, beverage: a liquid drunk to quench thirst or as a medicine; especially an alcoholic drink.^[5][4][1]
2. Heavy drinking of alcohol: a nu ține la băutură “not to hold one's drink”.^[5]
3. (dated) A drinking party, a carouse.^[4][3]

Word family

• băuturică

Related words

• bea
• băut
• băutor
• Aromanian biuturã

Usage notes

A regional variant is beutură.^[5]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. băutură
3. ^ a b c d e f g Academia Română (1913–1949), Dicționarul limbii române (DA), ed. Sextil Pușcariu, tom I (A–B, C, D–De) and tom II (F–I, J–Lojniță), București: Socec / Universul / Monitorul Oficial și Imprimeriile Statului; page scans at cflr-scans.solirom.ro, p. s.v. băutură
4. ^ a b c d e f Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 188
5. ^ a b c d e f g DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 97
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 1079
7. ^ a b c d Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. băutură
8. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 211
9. ^ Pascu, Giorge (1925), Dictionnaire étymologique macédoroumain, 2 vols. (I: Les éléments latins et romans; II: Les éléments grecs, turcs, slaves, albanais, germaniques, magyars, néologismes, créations immédiates, obscurs), Iași: Cultura Națională, p. 1, 51