fluture

Forms

fluture m (plural fluturi)^[1]

Etymology

Its origin is disputed.^[2][1] For DEX and MDA2 it is probably inherited from Vulgar Latin *flutulus.^[3][4] DA likewise posits a popular Latin *fluctulus, comparing Albanian and Italian forms.^[5] Tiktin calls it obscure and connects it with the verb flutura, perhaps from *flutulō, from flūtō (“to flow, float”).^[6][7] Candrea and Pușcariu also started from that verb, while Diez, Meyer and the REW proposed *fluctulō (“to fluctuate”), whose /kt/ is hard to explain.^[2]

Ciorănescu sees an expressive creation for the wavering flight of the butterfly, with the same expressive suffix as gudura and scutura, and cannot tell whether the noun or the verb came first; he considers Albanian fluturë a loan from Romanian.^[2] Wiktionary allows the reverse, a loan from Albanian flutur or a shared substrate word, or an imitative origin.^[1] DPEWA keeps the Albanian word in an Albanian family with fletë (“leaf; wing”).^[8] Scriban's Gepidic etymology is his own view.^[9]

The word survives in Aromanian: Aromanian flitur.^[10][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is from a Slavonic-Romanian charter of 1565.^[6] The sense “spangle” is attested in a Slavonic-Romanian text of 1582, the date MDA2 gives for the word.^[5][4]

Semantic evolution

The insect is the main sense.^[3][5] By likeness the word names the small shiny discs sewn on clothing, recorded since 1582, the winged fruit of the maple and a snowflake.^[5][4][11] A flighty, pretty young man was a fluture in the 19th century, and in the familiar plural the word means whims.^[12][3] Technical and sports senses are modern: the throttle disc of a carburettor and the butterfly stroke.^[3] Folk belief held that seeing a red butterfly in spring brought luck.^[5]

Timeline

• 1565 – the first record, in a Slavonic-Romanian charter.^[6]
• 1582 – the sense “spangle”, in a Slavonic-Romanian text.^[5][4]
• 1660 – flutur in a Slavonic–Romanian lexicon.^[13]
• 1803 – “10 drams of spangles” in a document.^[5]
• 1865 – fluture de neauă “snowflake”.^[11]
• 1870 – Costinescu's dictionary: the insect, the spangle and a lively young man.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. A butterfly or moth, an insect of the order Lepidoptera with four scaly wings;^[3][4][1] fluture-de-mătase “silk moth”, fluture-alb “cabbage white”.^[3][4][1]
2. (familiar, plural) Whims, odd ideas.^[3]
3. (plural) Spangles: small shiny metal discs sewn on clothing as ornament.^[3]
4. (technology) The throttle disc in a carburettor, which turns to regulate the fuel.^[3]
5. (sport) The butterfly stroke in swimming.^[3]
6. The winged fruit of the maple.^[4][5]

Word family

• fluturaș

Related words

• flutura
• Aromanian flitur
• Albanian flutur

Usage notes

A variant is flutur.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c 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. flutura
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 402
4. ^ 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, 922
5. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. fluture
6. ^ a b c d Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. fluture
7. ^ Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. flutura
8. ^ Demiraj, Bardhyl (ed.), Digitales philologisch-etymologisches Wörterbuch des Albanischen, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München
9. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 517
10. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 463
11. ^ a b Pisone, Domițian (1865), Dictionariu românescu, latinescu, germanescu și francescu, lucrat după sistemul Lexiconului de Buda, București: Typografia Ioann Weiss, p. 133
12. ^ a b Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 1, 448
13. ^ Ungureanu, Mădălina; Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Moruz, Alexandru (eds.), eRomLex: The First Romanian Bilingual Dictionaries (17th century), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. s.v. flutur