fulgera

Forms

fulgera (third-person singular present fulgeră, past participle fulgerat, third-person subjunctive fulgere), first conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *fulgerō (“to lighten”), the popular form of Latin fulgurō.^{[2][3][4][5][6]} Its ⟨e⟩ matches the noun fulger “lightning”, which continues fulger, a variant of the attested fulgur.^[6] The Latin verb is formed on the noun, which meant “flash, lightning”.^[1][7]

Italian folgorare continues the classical verb, and Candrea and Densusianu compare Old French foudrer.^[6][8] Aromanian has the prefixed sfuldzir.^[1] The Romanian variant sfulgera is probably the same verb, though Candrea and Densusianu derive it from Vulgar Latin *exfulgerō.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is the early 16th-century Psaltirea Hurmuzaki, which has fulgeră in Psalm 143:7.^[9] The Bible of 1688 has the same verse: „Fulgeră fulger și vei răsipi pre dânșii” “cast forth lightning and scatter them”.^[4][10]

Semantic evolution

In the old texts the verb is transitive, “to send lightning”, as in the psalm, and “to strike with lightning”: Dosoftei tells how a saint healed a man who had been fulgerat “struck by lightning”.^[4][3] The impersonal fulgeră “it lightens” is the usual weather verb, often with tuna; in Covurlui people said that lightning came when dragons fought each other.^[3]

Figurative senses followed in the 19th century: weapons and eyes fulgeră “flash”, thoughts flash through the mind, a blow fulgeră “strikes down” someone.^[3][4] Tiktin takes the last after French foudroyer.^[4] A tuna și a fulgera “to thunder and lighten” is said of a person in a rage.^[2] A rare reflexive is said of fruit that shrivels: walnut shells must not be thrown in the fire, or the nuts will shrivel the next year.^[3][11]

Timeline

• c. 1500-1520 – fulgeră in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki, Psalm 143:7.^[9]
• c. 1640 – fulgera in Grigore Ureche's chronicle.^[4]
• 1688 – fulgeră, fulgerat and fulgerând in the Bucharest Bible;^[10][11] MDA2's first record.^[10][11]
• 1862 – Pontbriant: “to lighten, to send lightning, to sparkle”.^[12]

Meanings

Verb

1. (intransitive, third person) Of lightning: to flash in the sky;^[2][11] fulgeră “it lightens”.^[2][11]
2. (intransitive, figurative) To sparkle, gleam, flash like lightning; to appear or pass by in a flash: Un gând i-a fulgerat prin minte.^[2][13]
3. (transitive, figurative) To strike someone down with a quick, hard blow.^[2][11]
4. (transitive, figurative) To cast a quick, cutting look at someone; to pierce with one's eyes.^[2][11]

Word family

• fulgerare
• fulgerător
• fulgerătură

Related words

• fulger
• sfulgera
• străfulgera
• Latin fulgurō

Usage notes

A tuna și a fulgera is said of a person who makes a scene, slamming and storming.^[2][11]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1, 418
3. ^ a b c d e 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. fulgera
4. ^ a b c d e f Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. fulgera
5. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 3556
6. ^ a b c d 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. fulger
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. fulguro
8. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Densusianu, Ov. (1907–1914), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române: elementele latine (A–Putea), București, p. s.v. fulgera
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 143:7
10. ^ a b c Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Ps 143:7
11. ^ 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, 950
12. ^ Pontbriant, Raoul de (1862), Dictiunaru romano-francesu, Bucuresci: A. Ulrich / Göttingen: Dieterich, p. 275
13. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. fulgera