barbură

Forms

barbură f (plural barbure)^[1] DELR records the variant barboră.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin Barbara, the name of the saint.^[2][3][4][1] DELR gives two explanations of its ⟨u⟩: assimilation to the ⟨b⟩ through the variant barboră (Candrea), or the influence of barbur, from barbula.^[2] Ciorănescu holds that the word and the custom are of Catholic origin and must be fairly recent, and DELR records his view that the Latin name came in through the Catholics.^[4][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR's first record is a text of Jipescu's of 1881;^[5] MDA2 dates the word to the answers to Hasdeu's questionnaire of 1884–1885.^[2][5] The sense was St Barbara's day, 4 December, and its customs.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

St Barbara's day and the two days after it, St Sava and St Nicholas, were held in popular belief to be the days of smallpox; on Barbara's day women anointed the children's faces with honey, sugar or the juice of guelder-rose berries to protect them.^[3][4][2] From the berries used in the custom the name passed to the guelder rose, Viburnum opulus, and to its fruit.^[4][5] The custom gave the verbs îmbărbura (1885) and bărbura (1911), “to anoint with guelder-rose juice on St Barbara's day”, and a back-formation barbur “guelder rose” (1911).^[2][4]

Timeline

• 1881 – barbură in Jipescu, the first record.^[2]
• 1884–1885 – in the answers to Hasdeu's questionnaire.^[5]
• 1885 – îmbărbura “to anoint the children on St Barbara's day”.^[2]
• 1911 – bărbura, îmbărburat and barbur “guelder rose” in the DA.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (regional) The popular name of St Barbara's day, 4 December, and the customs of that day, when children's faces are smeared to protect them from smallpox.^[5][2][1]
2. (regional) The guelder rose, Viburnum opulus, or its fruit.^[5][4][1]

Word family

• îmbărbura
• îmbărburat

Related words

• Latin Barbara

Usage notes

Barbură is also a Romanian surname.^[1][6]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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. barbură
3. ^ a b 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. barbură
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. barbură
5. ^ a b c d e f g Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 165
6. ^ Iordan, Iorgu (1983), Dicționar al numelor de familie românești, București: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică, p. 48