flămând

Forms

flămând m or n (feminine singular flămândă, masculine plural flămânzi, feminine/neuter plural flămânde)^[1]

Etymology

The word is inherited from Latin, but its exact source is disputed: the DA holds its link with Latin famēs (“hunger”) to be certain, though no satisfactory etymology had been found, and DEX calls it of unknown origin.^[2][3]

Ciorănescu takes it as inherited from Latin famēlicus (“hungry”), with an /l/ added by propagation or for expressiveness (*flamelicus), then dissimilated to *flamenicus; the final /d/ is as in stâng.^[4][1] Candrea, followed by Candrea–Densusianu, Capidan and MDA2, proposed Vulgar Latin *flammabundus, from flamma (“flame”), since hunger was felt as a burning; he compared Ovid's flamma gulae (“hunger”).^[5][6][7] Wiktionary also names a form *famulentus, from the same noun, through *flamuentus, and compares Portuguese famulento.^[1]

The word survives in all four branches: Aromanian flămunt, Megleno-Romanian flămund and Istro-Romanian flămănt.^[4][8] Candrea–Densusianu explain the Romanian vowel by the influence of the verb flămânzi, and see the Megleno- and Istro-Romanian forms as keeping an intermediate stage.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word is in Coresi's Psalter of 1570, with flămînd at Psalm 106:9 and the feminine flămîndă at Psalm 36:20.^[9][10] MDA2 dates it from Coresi's Tetraevanghel of 1574, which the DA quotes: „când te-am văzut flămând, sau setos...” “when did we see thee hungry, or thirsty”.^[7][2]

Semantic evolution

The adjective, often used as a noun, means “hungry”, in contrast to sătul “full”.^[2][3] Old texts also used it of a time threatened by famine: Coresi's zi flămândă is a day of famine.^[2][7] Figurative senses are “greedy” and “eager”.^[7] A proverb sets the full against the hungry: „nici sătulul celui flămând” “nor does the full man believe the hungry one”.^[2]

Timeline

• 1570 – flămînd and flămîndă in Coresi's Psalter.^[9][10]
• 1574 – flămând in Coresi's Tetraevanghel, MDA2's first record.^[7][2]
• 1688 – flămând and flămânzi many times in the Bucharest Bible.^[11]

Meanings

Adjective

1. hungry, starving; often used as a noun: a hungry person.^[3][7][1]
2. (obsolete, figurative) Threatened by famine.^[7][2]
3. (figurative) greedy; eager.^[7]

Word family

• flămânjune
• flămânzare
• flămânzenie
• flămânzi
• flămânzică
• flămânzilă

Related words

• foame
• Aromanian flămunt

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g 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. flămând
3. ^ a b c DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 399
4. ^ a b 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. flămând
5. ^ a b Candrea, I.-A.; Densusianu, Ov. (1907–1914), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române: elementele latine (A–Putea), București
6. ^ Capidan, Theodor (1935), Meglenoromânii III: Dicționar meglenoromân, București: Academia Română, p. 128
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, 914
8. ^ Saramandu, Nicolae (coord.) et al. (2010–), Dicționarul dialectului meglenoromân, general și etimologic, fascicles in Fonetică și dialectologie XXIX–, p. 169
9. ^ 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 106:9
10. ^ 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 36:20
11. ^ Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Ps 106:9