detuna

Forms

a detuna (third-person singular present detună, past participle detunat, third-person subjunctive detune), 1st conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin dētonō (“to thunder down”), formed from dē- and tonō (“to thunder”).^{[2][3][4][5][6][1]} The REW takes it as a neologism, but Ciorănescu points out that this holds only for the sense “to explode”: the verb is old and thoroughly popular.^[3][7] That sense was taken from French détoner (Tiktin) or influenced by détonner (the DLR).^[5][8]

It survives south of the Danube: Aromanian ditun.^[1] The neologism detona is its doublet.^[1] It is formed on the same verb as the simple tuna “to thunder”.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR's first record is Coresi's Tâlcul evangheliilor of 1567–1568, in a figurative sense: Thomas the Unbeliever could rightly have been “struck down”, „c-au vrut putea piiarde și detuna pre el”.^[2][8] Tiktin's first record is Coresi's homiliary of 1581.^[5] A place name Detunatură “lightning strike” is recorded in 1575.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The old sense is “to strike with lightning”: Grigore Ureche's chronicle tells of a Polish nobleman struck under his tent, „pre un șleahtici l-au dătunatu suptu cortu”.^[8][5] From it came “to shell, to batter” and “to knock down, demolish”, and colloquially “to daze”.^[2][9] The sense “to boom like thunder, resound” is the main one today.^[6][2] The sense “to explode” appeared in the 19th century under French influence, and Negulici's dictionary of 1848 already defines the verb as catching fire with a bang like gunpowder.^[5][10]

The derivative detunătură has the same range, from “lightning” to “explosion”.^[2][3] The place name Detunata is formed from the verb as well.^[3]

Timeline

• 1567–1568 – in Coresi's Tâlcul evangheliilor, the first record.^[2][8]
• 1575 – the place name Detunatură.^[2]
• 1581 – in Coresi's homiliary.^[5]
• 1682 – the noun detunet in Dosoftei.^[2]
• 1818–1820 – the noun detunat.^[2]
• 1832 – detunător “booming, striking”, in Asachi.^[2]
• 1848 – Negulici's detunare, “to go off with a bang”.^[10]

Meanings

Verb

1. (intransitive, third person) To make a noise like thunder, to boom; by extension, to resound;^[6] (transitive, rare) to make resound.^[6]
2. (intransitive, figurative, of people) To vent one's anger loudly.^[6]
3. (intransitive and transitive, third person) To strike with lightning.^[6][1]
4. (transitive, often figurative) To crush, destroy, demolish.^[6]
5. (intransitive) To explode, go off.^[3][1]

Word family

• detunat
• detunător
• detunătură
• detunet

Related words

• detona
• Aromanian ditun

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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. detuna
3. ^ 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. detuna
4. ^ Pușcariu, Sextil (1905), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der rumänischen Sprache I: Lateinisches Element, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 530
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. detuna
6. ^ 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, 304
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 2609
8. ^ a b c d Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. detuna
9. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 683
10. ^ a b Negulici, I. D. (1848), Vocabular romînesc de toate vorbele streine întroduse pînă acum în limba romînească și de toate cuvintele ce s-ar mai putea introduce încă, București, p. s.v. detunare