buciuma

Forms

buciuma (present bucium, third-person singular buciumă, past participle buciumat), first conjugation^[1][2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin būcinō (“to blow the trumpet”), from būcina (“curved trumpet, horn”).^{[3][4][1][5][6][2]} The oldest texts have only the form ⟨bucina⟩.^[7] Wiktionary suggests that the modern form was remade after the noun bucium.^[2] The Latin verb also continues in Italian bucinare, which means “to buzz in the ears, to whisper”.^[6] DA suggests that a Slavic verb meaning “to resound, to weep” mixed with the word in the Transylvanian senses “to weep, to howl”.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR dates the first record to about 1500, as bucina in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki;^[3] Tiktin cites Psalm 80:3 of the Psaltirea Scheiană.^[5] MDA2 gives a Tetraevanghel of 1574 as the first record, which has the figurative sense: „Când am faci milostenie, nu bucina înainte-ți, ca fățarnicii” “when you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do”.^[4][7]

Semantic evolution

The verb meant to sound the horn or the trumpet, and very early to proclaim something loudly, to praise.^[7][4] In Transylvania it also means to weep, and of wolves to howl; the Lexicon de la Buda (1825) records the first of these.^[7][4] In Transylvanian speech it was used of a factory whistle, and regionally of a car horn.^[7][8] In slang it means to flatter.^[9] The agent noun buciumător (1691–1697, as bucinător) and the noun buciumătură (1802–1803) come from the verb.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 1500-1520 – bucina in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki, the first record.^[3]
• 1574 – bucina “to trumpet, proclaim” in a Tetraevanghel.^[4][7]
• 1688 – bucina in Matthew 6:2 of the Bucharest Bible.^[10]
• 1691-1697 – bucinător in Corbea's dictionary.^[3]
• 1802-1803 – buciumătură.^[3]
• 1825 – the Transylvanian sense “to weep” in the Lexicon de la Buda.^[7]

Meanings

Verb

1. (intransitive) To blow the bucium, to sound a horn or give signals with it.^[1][4][2]
2. (transitive, figurative) To proclaim or announce something loudly to everyone.^[1][4][2]
3. (transitive) To praise.^[4]
4. (regional, intransitive) To weep; of wolves, to howl.^[4]
5. (slang) To flatter.^[9]

Word family

• buciumător
• buciumătură
• buciumare

Related words

• bucium
• zbuciuma
• Latin būcinō

Usage notes

DLRM and DLRLC also list a buciuma¹ that is only a variant of bușuma.^[11][12]

References

1. ^ a b c d DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 122
2. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
3. ^ a b c d e f 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
4. ^ 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
5. ^ 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. buciuma
6. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 1369
7. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. buciuma
8. ^ Dima, Eugenia (coord.) (2007), Dicționar explicativ ilustrat al limbii române, Chișinău: Arc / Gunivas, p. s.v. buciuma
9. ^ a b Volceanov, George (2007), Dicționar de argou al limbii române, București: Niculescu, p. s.v. buciuma
10. ^ Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Mt 6:2
11. ^ Academia Republicii Populare Romîne (1958), Dicționarul limbii romîne moderne, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1, 97
12. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1, 286