duh

Forms

duh n (plural duhuri)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Old Church Slavonic доухъ (duxŭ, “breath; spirit”), from Proto-Slavic *duxъ.^{[2][3][4][5][1]} The Slavonic noun was formed on the root of a verb meaning “to blow, to breathe”, and its religious sense is a calque of Ancient Greek πνεῦμα (pneûma).^[2] Ciorănescu compares Bulgarian дух (duh, “spirit”) and Slovene duh (“smell”).^[3]

DELR considers it probably a very old loan, which replaced Latin spiritus.^[2] For that reason CADE and Scriban proposed an Old Slavic source, but Petrovici and Sala point out that the final /h/ did not become /f/, as in old loans, which shows the influence of Church Slavonic.^[2] The popular senses “breath” and “stench” show that the word also spread by speech.^[2] It survives south of the Danube: Aromanian duh.^[3][6] Ciorănescu calls it a doublet of duși “mood”.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first records are in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki, early 16th century.^[2][7] The word occurs there in several psalms, among them Psalm 10:7 and Psalm 103:5.^[8][9] Tiktin's first record is the Codicele Voronețean (Acts 19:6).^[5]

Semantic evolution

In the old language the word meant “breath” and, by extension, “life”, as the translation of Slavonic duxŭ and Greek pneûma.^[5][7] From breath came the old popular sense “stench”, and the phrase a-și da duhul “to give up the ghost, to die”.^[2][4] In Moldavia într-un duh means “in one breath, at once”: Cantemir has a chameleon run într-un duh to the place of the unicorn.^[5][2] In Greek grammar it named the breathing mark, again after pneûma.^[2][7]

The religious senses are the Holy Spirit (Sfântul Duh), angels and evil spirits, the soul, and in popular belief ghosts.^[4][7] The intellectual sense, wit and intelligence, lives on in om de duh “a witty man” and sărac cu duhul “simple-minded”.^[2][4] The senses “specific character, essence, disposition”, as in duhul camaraderiei, arose in the 19th century after French esprit, and are now mostly out of use.^[2] Ciorănescu explains a Moldavian sense “reputation” by confusion with buh.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 1500–1520 – the first records, in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki.^[2][7][8]
• c. 1563–1583 – in the Codicele Voronețean (Acts 19:6).^[5]
• 1642 – the participle duhnit of the derivative duhni.^[2]
• c. 1650 – duhoare “stench”, glossed with Latin flatus and foetor.^[2]
• 1691–1697 – duhlui “to stink” in Teodor Corbea's dictionary.^[2]
• 1698 – duhnicesc “spiritual” in Cantemir.^[2]
• 1886 – duhoaie and duhoaică “evil spirit” in charms collected by Marian.^[2]
• 1908 – duhliu “witty” in Caragiale.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A supernatural, immaterial being, a ghost or apparition, or an evil spirit, the devil;^[4][7][1] Sfântul Duh, the Holy Spirit.^[4][7][1]
2. The soul, the spirit of a being;^[4][2] (dated) breath, as in a-și da duhul “to die” and într-un duh “very quickly”.^[4][2]
3. Intelligence, wit, humour, as in om de duh “a witty person” and sărac cu duhul “simple-minded”.^[4][2]
4. (dated) Character, nature; the true sense or spirit of a text; an intention.^[4][3]
5. (dated, popular) A bad smell, duhoare.^[4][7]

Word family

• duhliu
• duhni
• duhnicesc
• duhoaică
• duhoaie
• duhoare

Related words

• duhovnic
• duși
• Aromanian duh
• Old Church Slavonic доухъ (duxŭ)

Usage notes

In everyday speech sărac cu duhul means “simple, foolish”.^[4] DELR records a rare variant duc in a charm and an old variant duf “vapour, gas”.^[2]

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 j k l m n o p q r s t u v 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. duh
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. duh
4. ^ 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. 1, 335
5. ^ a b c d e Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. duh
6. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 417
7. ^ a b c d e f g h Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 768
8. ^ 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 10:7
9. ^ 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 103:5