bun

Forms

bun m or n (feminine singular bună, masculine plural buni, feminine/neuter plural bune)^[1] As a neuter noun meaning “possession” it has the plural bunuri.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin bonus (“good”), and it survives in all the Romance languages.^{[4][5][6][3][2][1]} The Latin adjective goes back to Old Latin duenos.^[1]

The word is found in all four branches: Aromanian bun, Megleno-Romanian bun and Istro-Romanian bur.^{[4][5][1][7][8][9][10]} Its Romance cognates include Italian buono, Occitan bon, French bon, Spanish bueno and Portuguese bom.^[5][6] The noun sense “possession, asset” was formed from the adjective on the model of German Gut and French bien, and is recorded from 1788.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is a personal name, Bun, in documents of 1222–1228, and he mentions an uncertain record of 1211 cited by Drăganu.^[11] As a common word it appears in the Hurmuzaki Psalter, of about 1500, in the sense “good, having the qualities one wants”.^[4] MDA2 dates it to the Codicele Voronețean (c. 1563–1583).^[3]

Semantic evolution

From “having the desired qualities” the adjective took on the senses “kind”, “pleasant”, “suitable”, “of good quality”, “skilled” and “useful”.^[2][5][4] With nouns of kinship it means “by blood, not a step-relative”: văr bun “first cousin”;^[6][2][4] Pușcariu found the same use in the Italian dialect of Lanciano.^[6][2][4] Before a word of quantity it means “large, considerable”: o bună bucată “a good while”.^[4][5] It forms many set compounds, such as bunăstare “welfare”, bun-simț “common sense” and bună-cuviință “politeness”.^[5][2] Recent slang has pe bune “for real”.^[12]

The abstract noun bunătate “goodness”, recorded from about 1500, is not a Romanian formation but continues Latin bonitas.^[4] Among the derivatives, îmbunat is recorded from 1562–1571, străbun “ancestor” from 1819 and the familiar bunăciune “attractive person” from 2000.^[4]

Timeline

• 1222–1228 – Bun as a personal name in documents.^[11]
• c. 1500 – the Hurmuzaki Psalter, the first Romanian text with the adjective and with bunătate.^[4]
• c. 1563 – the Codicele Voronețean.^[3]
• 1577 – Bunică as a personal name.^[4]
• after 1762 – bun “grandfather”.^[4]
• 1788 – bun “possession” in Budai-Deleanu.^[4]
• 1807 – bună “grandmother”.^[4]
• 1819 – străbun “ancestor”.^[4]
• 2000 – bunăciune “attractive person” in the press.^[4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. good, kind: who does good to others and treats them well;^[2][3][1] bun la inimă “kind-hearted”.^[2][3][1]
2. Decent, upright, behaving as one should;^[2] (of children) well-behaved, obedient.^[2]
3. Pleasant, agreeable;^[2][5] (of food and drink) tasty: o supă bună “a tasty soup”.^[2][5]
4. Suitable, fit for a purpose; working properly; of high quality.^[2][3]
5. Gifted, skilled: un medic bun “a good doctor”.^[2][5]
6. Useful, advantageous: la ce bun? “what is the use?”.^[2]
7. Strong, considerable; whole, full: o oră bună “a full hour”.^[2][5]
8. (of kinship) By blood, full: frate bun “full brother”, văr bun “first cousin”.^[2][5][6]

Noun

1. What a person or society needs for a good life; an economic good.^[2]
2. (chiefly in the plural bunuri) property, possessions, assets.^[2][5][1]
3. A good quality, a virtue.^[2][11]

Adverb

1. (as a reply) Good, all right, yes.^[2][11]

Word family

• bunic
• bunică
• bunel
• bunețe
• bunișor
• bunăciune
• nebun
• îmbuna
• străbun

Related words

• bine
• bunătate

Usage notes

In older and popular use bun (plural buni) also means “grandfather”, and bună “grandmother”.^[2][13] DELR derives this from the phrase tată bun, comparing French bon papa, and Pușcariu cites taică bun and maică bună in this sense.^[4][6] Ciorănescu instead treats it as a separate word, from a Latin *avunus related to avus “grandfather”, which merged early with bonus.^[5]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 125
3. ^ 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, 259
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r 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. bun
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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. bun
6. ^ a b c d e f Pușcariu, Sextil (1905), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der rumänischen Sprache I: Lateinisches Element, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 20
7. ^ Saramandu, Nicolae (coord.) et al. (2010–), Dicționarul dialectului meglenoromân, general și etimologic, fascicles in Fonetică și dialectologie XXIX–, p. 106
8. ^ Capidan, Theodor (1935), Meglenoromânii III: Dicționar meglenoromân, București: Academia Română, p. 48
9. ^ Kovačec, August (1998), Istrorumunjsko-hrvatski rječnik (s gramatikom i tekstovima), Pula
10. ^ Popovici, Iosif (1909), Dialectele romîne din Istria II: texte și glosar, Halle a. S., p. 95
11. ^ 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. bun
12. ^ Dimitrescu, Florica (1997), Dicționar de cuvinte recente, 2nd ed., București: Logos (with the 3rd ed., 2013, in CLRE), p. s.v. bun
13. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1, 296