dumesnic

Forms

dumesnic m or n (feminine singular dumesnică, masculine plural dumesnici, feminine/neuter plural dumesnice)^[1] The 1646 Moldavian law code has dumeasnic: „Cela ce va fura găini, gâște şi alte pasări dumeasnice ... a treia oară să-l spândzure” “whoever steals hens, geese and other domestic birds ... let him be hanged the third time”.^[2] The same code also has dumeastec, in the phrase „vreun dobitoc dumeastec” “some domestic animal”, of an animal caught in snares.^[2][3] DELR lists the variants domesnic, domestec, dumeasnic, dumeastec, dumestec, dumestic, dumestnic, dumeșnic and dumnestic.^[4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin domesticus (“of the house, tame”), which the other Romance languages also continue.^[4][5][6] The Latin adjective comes from domus (“house”).^[1] It survives in Aromanian dumeastec, and its Romance cognates include Italian domestico, Old French domesche and Occitan domesgue.^[6]

For the /n/ of the word and of its variant dumestnic, Pușcariu put it down to the many adjectives in -nic, and DELR accepts this.^[4] Candrea–Densusianu, Cihac, Tiktin, Scriban and DEX see the influence of Old Church Slavonic домаштьнь (domaštĭnĭ, “domestic”) instead, which DELR thinks unnecessary.^{[4][5][3][7][8]} The neologism domestic, from the same Latin word, is its doublet.^[5][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR's first record is the Codex Bratul of 1559–1560, with the form dumeastic.^[4] Tiktin's first record is the Moldavian law code of 1646, where it is said of domestic animals and birds.^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

The basic sense was “tame, domestic”, of animals, as opposed to wild.^[2][3] From it came “gentle, kind” of people, in old texts that call the rich „dumestnici și îndurători cătră săraci” “gentle and merciful to the poor”, and “cultivated” of plants.^[3] The verb dumesnici “to tame”, later also “to make sociable” and “to clear land for farming”, is recorded from 1688.^[4]

Regional speech kept further senses: of animals, not shy; of land, fertile, as pământ dumesnic “rich soil” in Bucovina; of grass, tender; of a dish, made from the meat of domestic animals.^[9][10] In the 19th century the neologism domestic took its place in the standard language.^[5][1]

Timeline

• 1559–1560 – dumeastic in the Codex Bratul, the first record.^[4]
• 1646 – dumeasnic and dumeastec in the Moldavian law code.^[3][2]
• 1688 – the verb dumestecí “to tame” in the Bucharest Bible.^[4]
• 1825 – dumésnicu or dumestnicu “tame” in the Lexicon of Buda.^[11]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (obsolete, of animals) domestic, tame.^[8][9][1]
2. (obsolete, of people) gentle, mild; civilized.^[9][1]
3. (obsolete) Of the household; familiar.^[9][4]
4. (regional, of land) Cultivated, fertile;^[9][10] (of plants) cultivated, bearing fruit;^[9][10] (of grass) tender.^[9][10]

Related words

• domestic
• Aromanian dumeastec
• Latin domesticus

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. domestic
3. ^ 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. dumesnic
4. ^ 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. domestic
5. ^ 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. domestic
6. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 2732
7. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1, 453
8. ^ a b DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 335
9. ^ a b c d e f g Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 770
10. ^ a b c d Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. dumesnic
11. ^ Lesicon românescu-latinescu-ungurescu-nemțescu quare de mai mulți autori, în cursul a trideci și mai multor ani s-au lucrat (1825), Buda: Typographia Universității (the Lexicon of Buda, ed. Petru Maior et al.), p. 200