fura

Forms

a fura (third-person singular present fură, past participle furat, third-person subjunctive fure); 1st conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *fūrō (“to steal”), the active counterpart of the deponent Latin fūror (“to steal”).^{[1][2][3][4][5]} The Latin verb is formed on fūr (“thief”).^[6][7] The verb survives in all four branches as Aromanian fur, Megleno-Romanian fur and Istro-Romanian fur.^[2] The Romance cognates are Italian furare, Old French furer and Occitan furar.^[2][8] The DA gives the Latin verb the same meaning as the Romanian one.^[5]

The Latin noun goes back to Proto-Indo-European *bʰṓr, built on the root *bʰer- (“to carry”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

MDA2's first record is the Codicele Voronețean, of about 1563–1583.^[3] Tiktin cites it at Acts 19:37.^[3][9]

Semantic evolution

Besides stealing, the verb has long meant taking something by stealth or surprise: a fura cu ochiul “to steal a glance at someone”, a fura un sărut “to steal a kiss”, and a fura meseria “to pick up a trade by watching”.^[4][3] The thief can also be sleep or thought: l-a furat somnul “sleep overcame him”.^[4]

A magical sense runs alongside: a fura inima, ochii “to bewitch, to blind someone”, and simply “to charm, to enchant”.^[4][2][9] The reflexive once meant “to sneak away”, a sense now carried by the derivative furișa.^[1][2]

Timeline

• c. 1563–1583 – first recorded, in the Codicele Voronețean.^[3][9]
• 1649 – fur glossing Slavonic “thief” in Mardarie's lexicon.^[10]

Meanings

Verb

1. To steal: to take secretly or by force something that belongs to someone else.^[4][3][1]
2. To kidnap someone.^[4][2]
3. (figurative) To come over someone unawares: l-a furat somnul “he dozed off”.^[4]
4. (figurative) To bewitch, to charm.^[4][2]

Word family

• furat
• furător
• furătură
• furiș
• furișa
• furlua
• furgăsi

Related words

• fur
• furt

Usage notes

De furat means “stolen” and pe furate “by stealth, on the sly”.^[4] The proverb cine fură azi un ou, mâine fură și un bou “who steals an egg today will steal an ox tomorrow” is quoted by Tiktin from Anton Pann.^[9]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g 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. fura
3. ^ 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, 954
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 420
5. ^ a b 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. fura
6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 3591
9. ^ 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. fura
10. ^ 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. fur