fuior

Forms

fuior n (plural fuioare)^[1] A feminine fuioară survives in Moldavia;^[2] Ciorănescu takes it for the regular outcome of the Latin plural.^[2]

Etymology

Its origin is uncertain: DEX calls it of unknown origin.^[3][2] Ciorănescu thinks it probably inherited from Latin fŏliola, a diminutive of folium (“leaf”).^[2] The regular outcome would be fuioară, kept in Moldavia, and the singular in ⟨-or⟩ was made afresh from the plural.^[2] He explains the sense by the shape of the bundle or by the sense “garland” of Latin folia, comparing Spanish copo.^[2]

The older and more widely cited view is Vulgar Latin *folliolus (“little bag”), from follis (“bellows, bag”): Pușcariu, Candrea and Densusianu, Pascu, the REW and the DA hold it, and MDA2 gives it as the etymon.^[2][4][5] Candrea and Densusianu explain the sense by the swollen shape of the heap of fibre placed on the distaff.^[6] Ciorănescu finds that sense no easier to explain than his own.^[2] Cihac and Scriban proposed Vulgar Latin *fūniolus for fūniculus (“cord”), from fūnis (“rope”), which Ciorănescu rejects because it leaves the dialect forms unexplained.^[7][8][2]

The word survives south of the Danube: Aromanian fuljor and Megleno-Romanian fuľor.^{[2][9][10][11]} Wiktionary compares Albanian fjollë.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is of 1568, in the Slavonic–Romanian documents.^[12] The first Romanian text that MDA2 cites is the Pravila of 1640, where a woman who steals „tort sau fuior” “yarn or hackled hemp” from her neighbour.^[5][12]

Semantic evolution

The word names flax or hemp that has been broken and hackled and is ready to spin, especially the long-fibred first quality, as against the coarser câlți.^[12][3] By extension it is any spinning fibre, silk or wool, and the linen or hemp cloth woven from it.^[12][3] Writers used it of things that look like such a bundle: a tuft of a horse's tail, a horse's tail streaming in the wind, red tongues of flame, silver streaks in moonlit water.^[12][13] Figuratively one spins on from fuiorul dragostei, the thread of a love.^[12]

Fuiorul popii was the bundle of hemp given to the village priest on top of his usual fee when he came with the holy water at Epiphany;^[8][5] ca fuiorul popii came to mean “over and above, to no purpose”.^[8][5]

Timeline

• 1568 – fuior in the Slavonic–Romanian documents, the first record.^[12]
• 1640 – fuior “hackled hemp” in the Pravila.^[5][12]
• 1801 – Klein glosses fuior with Latin “a handful of hemp”.^[14]
• 1825 – the Lexicon de la Buda derives it from Latin foliolum.^[15]

Meanings

Noun

1. A bundle of hemp or flax, broken and hackled, ready to spin; by extension a bundle of silk or wool.^[3][5]
2. Cloth of hemp or flax.^[3][16]

Related words

• foaie
• Aromanian fuljor

Usage notes

Popular expressions: a-și lua ale trei fuioare “to pack up and leave” and a ține fuior cu cineva “to stand up to someone, not to be intimidated”.^[3][5] It is pronounced in three syllables, fu-ior.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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. fuior
3. ^ a b c d e f g DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1, 418
4. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 3421
5. ^ 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, 949
6. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Densusianu, Ov. (1907–1914), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române: elementele latine (A–Putea), București, p. s.v. fuior
7. ^ Cihac, A. de (1870), Dictionnaire d'étymologie daco-romane I: Éléments latins comparés avec les autres langues romanes, Frankfurt am Main, p. 104
8. ^ a b c Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1, 531
9. ^ Pascu, Giorge (1925), Dictionnaire étymologique macédoroumain, 2 vols. (I: Les éléments latins et romans; II: Les éléments grecs, turcs, slaves, albanais, germaniques, magyars, néologismes, créations immédiates, obscurs), Iași: Cultura Națională, p. 1, 86
10. ^ Saramandu, Nicolae (coord.) et al. (2010–), Dicționarul dialectului meglenoromân, general și etimologic, fascicles in Fonetică și dialectologie XXIX–, p. 182
11. ^ Capidan, Theodor (1935), Meglenoromânii III: Dicționar meglenoromân, București: Academia Română, p. 131
12. ^ a b c d e f g h Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. fuior
13. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 2, 339
14. ^ Gáldi, László (ed.) (1944), Samuel Klein: Dictionarium valachico-latinum. Primul dicționar al limbii române, Budapest: Királyi Magyar Pázmány Péter Tudományegyetemi Román Intézet (Klein's dictionary of 1801, with Gáldi's etymological study), p. 363
15. ^ 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. 229
16. ^ Academia Republicii Populare Romîne (1958), Dicționarul limbii romîne moderne, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. s.v. fuior