bucium

Forms

bucium n (plural buciume)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin būcinum (“trumpet call; trumpet”), a by-form of būcina (“curved trumpet, horn”).^[2][3][4][1] Ciorănescu allows both that form and buccina, after Pușcariu, the REW and Candrea–Densusianu.^[5][6] The Latin word is probably a compound of bōs (“ox”) and the root of canō (“to sing”).^[2][1]

The expected result was the old form bucin, and Ciorănescu explains the modern form by the spread of the vowel /u/ and by the assimilation of the final /n/ to the initial labial.^[5] Candrea–Densusianu and DELR suggest the influence of the word for “stump”, if that word has a separate origin.^[2] The Romance cognates include Old French buisine and Spanish bocina.^[5][6]

The sense “tree trunk, stump” is disputed: Ciorănescu takes it for an extension of the first sense, since a bucium looks like a thick branch or a trunk with its bark, stripped of twigs.^[5] DA leaves it of unknown origin and relates it to butuc and buturugă, and Tiktin to the obscure pociumb “stake”.^[7][8][9] Skok saw a blend of the word for “stump” with ciomag;^[9] DEX calls the word of unknown origin.^[9][4] DELR finds the single-word view problematic, since the old texts generally keep the form with /n/ for the horn apart from the form with /m/ for the trunk.^[9] This sense exists south of the Danube: Aromanian bucium (“log, trunk”) and Megleno-Romanian bučum.^[9][10][11] Papahagi leaves the Aromanian word without an etymology.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR dates the horn to about 1500, under the old form bucin, in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki.^[2] The 16th-century psalters of Coresi and others have bucin at Psalm 80:3 and the plural bucine at Psalm 97:7.^[12][13] MDA2 gives Coresi's psalter of 1577 as the first record.^[3] The sense “trunk” is recorded in 1582, in the Palia de la Orăștie: „Aceasta va lega mânzișorul său la buciumul viei” “he shall tie his foal to the vine stock”.^[9][7]

Semantic evolution

The horn is the long wooden horn of the shepherds, made from a hollowed branch or from strips of lime, maple or cherry wood bound with bark.^[5][8] It was once used in war to give signals.^[14] In the Șapte taine of 1645 the walls of Jericho fall at the sound of „șepte bucine” “seven trumpets”.^[8] By analogy the word names a roll of paper or cloth and a tin tube for documents, and regionally a chimney.^[3][8][15]

The sense “trunk” covers a log, the stock of a vine and the hub of a cart wheel.^[7][4] The 1648 New Testament has „Eu sânt buciumul viței cel adevărat” “I am the true vine”.^[7]

The verb buciuma “to blow the horn” is a separate inheritance from Latin;^[2] buciumaș “horn player” appears as a personal name in 1570;^[2] bucinar “chimney sweep; trumpeter” dates from 1691–1697.^[2] The plant name buciniș “hemlock” is recorded from about 1650.^[2] The diminutive buciumel belongs to the sense “trunk”.^[9]

Timeline

• c. 1500-1520 – bucin “horn” in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki, the first record.^[2]
• 1570 – bucin in Coresi's psalter (Psalm 80:3); Buciumaș as a personal name.^[12][2]
• 1577 – Coresi's psalter.^[3]
• 1582 – the sense “trunk, vine stock” in the Palia de la Orăștie.^[9][7]
• 1645 – bucine “trumpets” in the Șapte taine.^[8]
• 1648 – buciumul viței “the vine” in the New Testament of 1648.^[7]
• c. 1650 – the plant name buciniș.^[2]
• 1691-1697 – bucinar in Corbea's dictionary.^[2]
• 1825 – the senses “trunk”, “wheel hub” and “chimney” in the Lexicon de la Buda.^[15][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A long wooden horn, an alphorn: a very long conical tube of lime bark, wood or metal, used mostly by shepherds for calls and signals.^[4][3][1]
2. A roll or tube of paper or cloth; a cylinder.^[3][8]
3. (regional) A chimney.^[3]
4. (popular) A tree trunk or log; especially the stock of a vine.^[4][7][1]
5. (popular) The hub of a cart wheel.^[4][7]

Word family

• buciuma
• buciumaș
• buciumător
• bucinar
• buciniș
• buciumel

Related words

• butuc
• zbuciuma
• Aromanian bucium
• Latin būcina

Usage notes

DEX and MDA2 treat the two senses as two words: bucium¹ “horn”, from Latin būcinum, and bucium² “trunk, wheel hub”, which DEX calls of unknown origin and MDA2 of unknown origin with a first record in 1825.^[4][3] DA, Tiktin and DELR separate them too, while Ciorănescu treats them as one word.^{[14][8][9][5]} In the old texts the trunk sense is often masculine, with the plural buciumi.^[7][8] Bucin survives in Maramureș and bucen in Oltenia.^[16]

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. bucium¹
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 252
4. ^ 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. 122
5. ^ 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. bucium
6. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 1368
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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. bucium²
8. ^ a b c d e f g h Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. bucium
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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. bucium²
10. ^ a b Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 223
11. ^ Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net), p. 211
12. ^ a b Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Ungureanu, Mădălina; Moruz, Alexandru et al., roPsalt: Re-evaluating the Sixteenth Century Romanian Psalters (aligned corpus), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. Ps 80:3
13. ^ Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Ungureanu, Mădălina; Moruz, Alexandru et al., roPsalt: Re-evaluating the Sixteenth Century Romanian Psalters (aligned corpus), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. Ps 97:7
14. ^ 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. bucium¹
15. ^ a b Lesicon românescu-latinescu-ungurescu-nemțescu quare de mai mulți autori, în cursul a trideci și mai multor ani s-au lucrat (1825), Buda: Typographia Universității (the Lexicon of Buda, ed. Petru Maior et al.), p. 71
16. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 201