buzna

Forms

buzna (adverb); variants busta, and in Moldavia nabuzna, năbuzna; also spelled busna, nabusna.^[1] The variant busta appears in Alecsandri: „Șarl, cu pasportul în mână, da busta în salon” “Charles, passport in hand, bursts into the drawing room”.^[2]

Etymology

The origin is disputed.^[1] Tiktin and DEXI call it unknown, and Ciorănescu also says the origin is unknown before giving his own view.^[2][3][4]

DELR's first explanation derives it, probably, from Romanian năpustă (“onrush”), from năpusti (“to rush at”), found in a phrase meaning “to rush in”.^[1] Shortening and voicing gave the variant busta, and the forms with /n/ may follow razna.^[1] Ciorănescu likewise sees a word of the family of năpusti, with an earlier form ending in /-na/.^[4] To him the Moldavian variant nabuzna seemed to point to a Slavic origin.^[4]

The DA, followed with a hedge by DEX and MDA2, and directly by NODEX and Wiktionary, connects it with Hungarian buszma (“oafish, clumsy”), so that to enter this way first meant to come in like a boor.^{[1][5][6][7][8]} DELR notes against this that the Hungarian word is found only in the dialects of western Hungary.^[1] The Hungarian word, recorded from 1645, is probably expressive in origin.^[9]

Older proposals are listed by DELR.^[1] Pușcariu thought of busta, the plural of Latin bustum (“funeral pyre, tomb”), with an original sense of laying waste, or of a blend of buziș and the adverb razna.^[1] Cihac related the variant to buși, Scriban to busnat, and Rohr to Hungarian duzma (“swelling, arrogance”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR dates the first record to 1834, under the variant busta in Albina românească, and the form buzna to 1851, in Millo.^[1] Tiktin gives an earlier date, 1624.^[2] The word lives only in the expression a da buzna “to burst in”.^[1]

Semantic evolution

Tiktin marks the word as Moldavian, and his quotations show it with the verbs a da “to give” and a intra “to enter” in Alecsandri, Nădejde and Vlahuță, where hungry birds rush at a bowl.^[2] The DLRLC finds the variant busta in Creangă and Negruzzi.^[10] Romanian derived the verb buzni “to rush in” from the phrase a da buzna, recorded from 1958, and Pamfile has the single form buznamite “headlong” in 1907.^[1]

Timeline

• 1834 – busta, the first record.^[1]
• 1851 – the form buzna in Millo.^[1]
• 1907 – buznamite “headlong” in Pamfile, a single record.^[1]
• 1958 – the verb buzni “to rush in”.^[1]

Meanings

Adverb

1. Only in a da buzna or a intra buzna: to burst in (or out) suddenly, to barge in: Copiii au dat buzna în bucătărie.^[5][10]

Word family

• buzni

Related words

• năpusti
• năpustă
• razna
• Hungarian buszma

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p 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. buzna
2. ^ 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. buzna
3. ^ Dima, Eugenia (coord.) (2007), Dicționar explicativ ilustrat al limbii române, Chișinău: Arc / Gunivas, p. s.v. buzna
4. ^ a b c 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. buzna
5. ^ a b DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 129
6. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 269
7. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. buzna
8. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
9. ^ Benkő, Loránd (ed.) (1967–1976), A magyar nyelv történeti-etimológiai szótára, 3 vols., Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, p. 1, 395
10. ^ a b Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1, 307