buric

Forms

buric n (plural burice)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *umbulīcus, a variant of Latin umbilīcus (“navel”).^[2][3][4] The Vulgar Latin form, which many Romance dialects also require, has been explained by the influence of umbō (“boss of a shield, bulge”) (Pușcariu, Meyer-Lübke, the DA, Candrea–Densusianu) or by assimilation to the labial (Densusianu).^[2][5] Its first syllable was taken for the indefinite article un, so that the intermediate form was divided as article plus noun and lost its first syllable.^[2][4][6] French nombril shows a similar misdivision with an article.^[1][7]

The word survives in all four branches: Aromanian buric, Megleno-Romanian buric and Istro-Romanian buric.^[6][8][9] Romance cognates include Italian bellico, Occitan ombelic, Spanish ombligo and Portuguese umbigo.^[6][10] The Latin word is related to Ancient Greek ὀμφαλός (omphalós, “navel”); de Vaan reconstructs Proto-Indo-European *h₃nbʰ-(e/o)l- (“navel”).^[11] Romanian later borrowed the Latin word separately as ombilic.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is a document of 1621.^[12] DELR dates the word from a 1639 Paraclis, and a personal name formed on the diminutive buricel is recorded in 1633.^[2] Mardarie's lexicon of 1649 glosses Slavonic пупъ “navel” with it.^[13]

Semantic evolution

Besides the navel itself, the word names the umbilical cord, as in the proverb copilul cu moașe multe rămâne cu buricul netăiat, “a child with many midwives is left with its cord uncut”.^[12][14] By analogy buricul degetului is the fleshy fingertip, already in Dosoftei.^[14][12] The sense “centre” is old;^[15][2] Sandfeld linked it to Greek, but Ciorănescu treats it as a normal extension of “navel”.^[6] In folk belief buricul pământului, the centre of the earth thought of as flat, is an opening into the other world; ironically, someone who se crede buricul pământului thinks himself the most important person of all.^[12][15][2]

Millers use it for the lining or hole in the eye of the lower millstone.^[12][15] Aromanian extends the word to “belly”, “heart” and “courage”.^[8]

Timeline

• 1621 – the first record, in a document.^[12]
• 1633 – the diminutive buricel in a personal name.^[2]
• 1639 – in a Paraclis.^[2]
• 1649 – in Mardarie's Slavonic–Romanian lexicon.^[13]
• c. 1650 – buricat “bulging” in the Anonymus Caransebesiensis.^[2]
• 1682–1686 – buricul degetului “fingertip” in Dosoftei's lives of the saints.^[3][12]
• 1691–1697 – buricos “big-bellied; conceited” in Corbea's dictionary.^[2]
• 1870 – a se burica “to stick one's belly out, to give oneself airs”.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. The navel, the scar in the middle of the abdomen left by the umbilical cord; also the cord itself.^[4][2]
2. (figurative) The middle, the centre: buricul pământului “the centre of the earth”;^[4][3] a se crede buricul pământului “to think oneself the most important person in the world”.^[4][3]
3. buricul degetului: the fingertip.^[4][2]
4. buricul-apei: marsh pennywort (Hydrocotyle vulgaris).^[4]
5. (regional) The eye of the lower millstone, or the piece fitted into it.^[15][12]

Word family

• burica
• buricar
• buricaș
• buricat
• buricel
• buricos
• îmburica

Related words

• ombilic
• Aromanian buric

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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. buric
3. ^ a b c d Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 263
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. 127
5. ^ Pușcariu, Sextil (1905), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der rumänischen Sprache I: Lateinisches Element, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 20
6. ^ a b c d 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. buric
7. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. nombril
8. ^ a b Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 231
9. ^ Kovačec, August (1998), Istrorumunjsko-hrvatski rječnik (s gramatikom i tekstovima), Pula
10. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 9045
11. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
12. ^ 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. buric
13. ^ a b Ungureanu, Mădălina; Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Moruz, Alexandru (eds.), eRomLex: The First Romanian Bilingual Dictionaries (17th century), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. s.v. buric
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. buric
15. ^ a b c d Ștef, Dorin (2011), Dicționar de regionalisme și arhaisme din Maramureș, Baia Mare: Ethnologica, p. s.v. buric