duzină

Forms

duzină f (plural duzini)^[1] The plural is duzini, also duzine.^[2][3] Old and regional variants include dozină in south-eastern Transylvania, dujină in Dobruja, duzună in Moldavia, and the neuter duțen, duțin, tuțin and tuțăn in Transylvania and Oltenia.^[4][5] The oldest record has tuțăn: „Tuțăn deto piapteni rari” “a dozen ditto, wide-toothed combs” (1766).^[6]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Modern Greek ντουζίνα (ntouzína, “dozen”), according to DELR, MDA2, DEX and MDN.^{[4][5][2][7][1]} The Greek word comes from an Italian dialect form: Kriaras names Venetian dozena or an older dialectal Italian duzina, and Babiniotis traces the chain on to Old French douzaine, from douze (“twelve”) and Latin duodecim.^[8][9] Ciorănescu takes the word from Italian dozzina through an Eastern channel, comparing the Greek, Turkish, Bulgarian дузина (duzina) and Albanian duzinë, and Tiktin too gives Italian, also as an indirect source.^[10][11][12] Scriban, DN and other dictionaries name French douzaine instead, and DELR lists that view beside the Greek one.^[13][14][4]

The Italian word itself is a loan from the French one, a derivative of the numeral twelve.^[15][16] The Transylvanian variants duțen, duțin and tuțăn have a separate source, borrowed from German Dutzend (“dozen”), which goes back through Middle High German totzen to dozaine.^[4]

Aromanian has the word too: duzinã, which Papahagi derives from Italian.^[17][18]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is a document of 1766, published by Furnică, with the Transylvanian form tuțăn “dozen” of combs.^[4][6][5] The form duzină is first recorded in 1790, and in 1813 the Uricariul has „Una duzină linguri” “one dozen spoons”.^[4][6] Tiktin dates it from 1780.^[11]

Semantic evolution

The word has always meant a set of twelve things of the same kind, mostly goods in trade: combs, spoons, shirts, cups.^[6][3] MDA2 notes that it was sometimes used of ten things too.^[5] By analogy it came to mean a vague number, a dozen or so, also of people.^[6][3]

The phrase de duzină “by the dozen” means mass-produced and of poor quality, and of people ordinary, mediocre.^[2][14] DELR explains this sense by German compounds such as Dutzendware “cheap goods” and Italian di dozzina, where it comes from cheap goods sold by the dozen, recorded in Italian from the 16th century.^[4][16]

Timeline

• 1766 – tuțăn, of combs, in a document published by Furnică.^[4][6]
• 1780 – first record of duzină in Tiktin.^[11]
• 1790 – the first dated duzină in DELR.^[4][6]
• 1813 – „Una duzină linguri” “one dozen spoons” in the Uricariul.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A dozen: a set of twelve things of the same kind.^[2][5]
2. (by extension) a dozen or so, a fair number.^[6]
3. de duzină: mass-produced, of poor quality; of people, mediocre.^[2][5]

Related words

• Aromanian duzinã
• Italian dozzina
• French douzaine

Usage notes

An example: A cumpărat o duzină de ouă. “She bought a dozen eggs.”^[2] Of people the phrase is pejorative: un poet de duzină “a run-of-the-mill poet”.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 338
3. ^ a b c d Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 2, 192
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. duzină
5. ^ a b c d e f Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 778
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. duzină
7. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. duzină
8. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
9. ^ Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
10. ^ 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. duzină
11. ^ a b c Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. duzină
12. ^ Georgiev, Vladimir I. et al. (eds.) (1971–), Bălgarski etimologičen rečnik, Sofija: Izdatelstvo na Bălgarskata akademija na naukite, p. 1, 444
13. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1, 456
14. ^ a b Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. duzină
15. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
16. ^ a b Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
17. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne
18. ^ Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net), p. 423