cununa

Forms

cununa (third-person singular present cunună, past participle cununat, third-person subjunctive cunune), 1st conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin corōnō (“to crown”), the verb derived from corōna (“crown, wreath”), which gave the noun cunună.^{[2][3][4][5][1]} Ciorănescu lists it among the derivatives of the noun but allows that it may come straight from the Latin verb, as Pușcariu, Candrea and Densusianu, the REW and the DA hold.^[6] The same Latin verb gave Italian coronare, French couronner, Spanish coronar and Portuguese coroar.^[7] It survives south of the Danube: Aromanian curun and Megleno-Romanian curunari.^[8][9][10]

The sense “to marry” comes from the Orthodox wedding rite, in which crowns are held over or placed on the heads of bride and groom.^[6][5] Modern Greek στεφανώνω (stefanóno) has the same double sense “to crown” and “to marry”, as Sandfeld noted, and Bulgarian венчавам (venčavam) is similar.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki of the early 16th century, in the form cunrura, with the sense “to crown”.^[2] The Psaltirea Scheiană has the rhotacized form: „Curură-te cu meserere” “he crowneth thee with mercy” (Psalm 102:4).^[5] MDA2 dates its first record to the Psaltirea Scheiană of about 1573–1578.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The old sense was “to crown, to put a wreath on someone's head”, with the figurative senses “to surround, to protect, to reward”.^[4][11] The Bible of 1688 still uses cununat “crowned” in the Psalms.^[12] In this sense the verb was later replaced by încununa.^[6][11]

The church sense became the main one: of a priest, to marry a couple; of the godparent, to stand sponsor at a wedding; reflexively, to get married in church.^[5][3] The noun cununie “church wedding” is recorded from Coresi's Tetraevanghel of 1567–1568.^[2] Ciorănescu notes that cununie is in general use throughout the country, owing to the church.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 1500-1520 – cunrura “to crown” in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki, the first record.^[2]
• 1567-1568 – cununie “church wedding” in Coresi's Tetraevanghel.^[2]
• c. 1573-1578 – curura “to crown” in the Psaltirea Scheiană.^[5][4]
• 1581 – încununa “to crown” in Coresi's Evanghelie.^[2]
• c. 1650 – the abstract noun cununat.^[2]
• 1813 – cununător “one who marries a couple, godparent” in Petru Maior.^[2]
• 1862 – descununa “to divorce” in Pontbriant's dictionary.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. (reflexive, reciprocal) To get married in church.^[3][1]
2. (transitive) Of a priest: to officiate at a wedding, to marry a couple.^[3]
3. (transitive) To be the godparent (naș) of a couple at their wedding.^[3][13]
4. (transitive) Of parents: to marry off a son or daughter in church.^[3]
5. (obsolete, transitive) To crown, to put a wreath on someone's head.^[4][5]

Word family

• cununie
• necununat
• descununa
• cununător

Related words

• cunună
• încununa
• încorona
• Aromanian curun

Usage notes

In the sense “to crown” the modern language uses încununa (or încorona for a monarch).^[6][1] Example: S-au cununat la biserica din sat în luna mai. “They were married at the village church in May.”^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. cunună
3. ^ 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. 1, 260
4. ^ a b c d e Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 573
5. ^ a b c d e f Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. cununa
6. ^ a b c d e f 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. cunună
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 2246
8. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 341
9. ^ Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net), p. 364
10. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Densusianu, Ov. (1907–1914), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române: elementele latine (A–Putea), București, p. 448
11. ^ 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. cununa
12. ^ Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Ps 8:6
13. ^ Academia Republicii Populare Romîne (1958), Dicționarul limbii romîne moderne, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. s.v. cununa