frasin

Forms

frasin m (plural frasini)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin fraxinus (“ash tree”).^{[2][3][4][5][6][1]} It survives in all four branches: Aromanian frapsin, Megleno-Romanian frasin and Istro-Romanian frǫsir.^[2][7][8][9] Its Romance cognates include Italian frassino, Occitan fraisse, French frêne, Spanish fresno and Portuguese freixo.^[2][10] Ciorănescu also compares Albanian frashër.^[2]

The Banat forms ⟨frapsăn⟩ and ⟨frapsin⟩ keep the regular outcome of Latin /ks/, which Aromanian shares.^[2][11] Ciorănescu finds the loss of /p/ in the standard form unclear.^[2] Candrea and Densusianu explain it by a crossing with the Slavonic word for the ash tree, or by the influence of derivatives such as frăsinet, where the consonant group did not follow the stressed vowel.^[11][2] Tiktin takes the Banat form ⟨fraxin⟩ for a learned word, probably brought in by foresters.^[3]

Through the Latin word for the ash, de Vaan and Wiktionary connect it with the Indo-European word for the birch, Proto-Indo-European *bʰerHǵos.^[12][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to a document of 1521, and gives an older form frasen.^[3][5] A Slavonic–Romanian lexicon of about 1678–1683 glosses Slavonic ꙗсень “ash” with it.^[13] MDA2's first record is much later, from Negruzzi's works of 1872.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The word names the tree and its hard, elastic wood, used above all by cartwrights.^[5][14][15] Frasin-de-munte, also frasin-de-mană, is the manna ash, named after the sweet sap that runs from its bark and was used as a mild purgative for children.^[5][4]

Creangă uses the idiom a umbla frunza frasinului (or frăsinelului) “to wander about like the ash leaf”, that is, aimlessly.^[3] Ciorănescu notes that a Modern Greek word for the tree was borrowed from Aromanian.^[2]

Timeline

• 1521 – the first record, in a document.^[3]
• c. 1678–1683 – frasin glossing Slavonic “ash” in a Slavonic–Romanian lexicon.^[13]
• 1825 – the Lexicon de la Buda gives frasinu, with Fraxinus excelsior.^[16]
• 1872 – frasini in Negruzzi's works, MDA2's first record.^[4][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. The ash tree, Fraxinus excelsior, a tall tree with compound leaves, winged fruits and elastic wood used in industry.^[6][1]
2. The wood of this tree.^[14]
3. frasin-de-munte, frasin-de-mană: the manna ash, Fraxinus ornus.^[4][5]

Word family

• frăsinel
• frăsinet
• frăsiniu

Related words

• Aromanian frapsin
• Latin fraxinus

Usage notes

MDA2 lists the regional variants frapsăn, frapsin, frapsine and frasân, and an old frasen.^[4] In the Moldovan Cyrillic alphabet the word was written фрасин.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. frasin
3. ^ 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. frasin
4. ^ 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, 938
5. ^ a b c d e f 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. frasin
6. ^ a b DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 412
7. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 468
8. ^ Saramandu, Nicolae (coord.) et al. (2010–), Dicționarul dialectului meglenoromân, general și etimologic, fascicles in Fonetică și dialectologie XXIX–, p. 172
9. ^ Byhan, Arthur (1899), Istrorumänisches Glossar, Sechster Jahresbericht des Instituts für rumänische Sprache zu Leipzig: 174–366, p. 220
10. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 3489
11. ^ a b Candrea, I.-A.; Densusianu, Ov. (1907–1914), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române: elementele latine (A–Putea), București, p. 633
12. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
13. ^ a b 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. frasin
14. ^ a b Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. frasin
15. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 1, 259
16. ^ 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. 224