cărbune

Forms

cărbune m (plural cărbuni)^[1] The Psaltirea Scheiană has the rhotacised plural cărburii: „Săgeatele tarelui ascuțite cu arșii cărburii pustiniei” “the sharpened arrows of the mighty, with the burning coals of the wilderness” (Psalm 119:4).^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin carbo (“charcoal”), from the accusative carbōnem.^{[3][4][2][5][1]} The word survives in all four branches: Aromanian cãrbuni, Megleno-Romanian cărbuni and Istro-Romanian cârbur.^{[3][4][6][7][8]} Its Romance cognates include Italian carbone, Occitan carbó, French charbon, Spanish carbón and Portuguese carvão.^[4][9] The Latin word has no sure etymology outside Italic.^[10]

carbon is a later borrowing from French of the same Latin word.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is the place name Cărbunești in 1429.^[3] Tiktin's first date is 1491, and a personal name Cărburi appears in 1548.^[2] In Romanian texts the plural cărbuni “coals, embers” is in Coresi's Psalter of 1570 (Psalm 17).^[11]

Semantic evolution

The first sense is the glowing or burnt-out piece of wood: ember and charcoal.^[12][2] With mining, cărbune de pământ or de piatră named mineral coal, and today cărbune alone means coal.^[2][13] The black colour and the burning gave names to diseases: anthrax in people and animals, and smut in cereals.^[4][3][13] Artists' charcoal and a drawing made with it are also cărbune.^[13]

Old phrases include a sta ca pe cărbuni “to be on tenterhooks” and cărbune acoperit “a sly, secretive person”.^[13][5] Derivatives followed: cărbunar “charcoal burner” and cărbunărie are recorded from 1691–1697, cărbunel from 1822.^[3]

Timeline

• 1429 – the place name Cărbunești, the first record.^[3]
• 1491 – Tiktin's first date for the word.^[2]
• 1570 – cărbuni in Coresi's Psalter.^[11]
• c. 1573–1578 – cărburii in the Psaltirea Scheiană.^[2][5]
• 1691–1697 – cărbunar “charcoal burner”, cărbunaș and cărbunărie.^[3]
• 1822 – the diminutive cărbunel.^[3]
• 1871 – the verb cărbuni “to carbonise”.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. coal: a black combustible sedimentary rock rich in carbon;^[13][1] cărbune brun “brown coal”, cărbune activ “activated carbon”, cărbune alb “water power”.^[13][1]
2. A piece of partly burnt wood; an ember;^[13][1] cărbune de lemn “charcoal”;^[13][1] a sta ca pe cărbuni “to be very impatient”.^[13][1]
3. A soft black crayon for drawing, or a drawing made with it.^[13][1]
4. (medicine) anthrax.^[13][1]
5. (of plants) smut, a disease of cereals.^[13][1]

Word family

• cărbunar
• cărbunaș
• cărbunăreasă
• cărbunărie
• cărbunească
• cărbunel
• cărbuni
• cărbunicios
• cărbuniu
• cărbunos
• încărbuna

Related words

• carbon
• Aromanian cãrbuni
• Latin carbo

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. cărbune
3. ^ 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. cărbune
4. ^ 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. cărbune
5. ^ a b c Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 330
6. ^ Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net), p. 261
7. ^ Kovačec, August (1998), Istrorumunjsko-hrvatski rječnik (s gramatikom i tekstovima), Pula
8. ^ Popovici, Iosif (1909), Dialectele romîne din Istria II: texte și glosar, Halle a. S., p. 97
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 1674
10. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
11. ^ 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 17:10
12. ^ 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. cărbune
13. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 160