furt

Forms

furt n (plural furturi)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin fūrtum (“theft”), from fūr (“thief”).^{[2][3][4][1][5]} Ciorănescu follows Pușcariu, Candrea and Densusianu and the REW.^[2][6] It survives in Aromanian furtu.^[2][7][8] Its Romance cognates are Italian furto, Catalan furt, Spanish hurto and Portuguese furto.^[2][9][6]

Ciorănescu notes that popular use of the noun is not recorded in Romanian except through its derivative furtișag, used from the 16th century.^[2] Candrea and Densusianu call the modern word a reintroduced neologism, but take this derivative, formed on the model of Hungarian tolvajság, as proof that the noun once lived in popular speech; the DA agrees, pointing to Aromanian.^[10][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to about 1600, from a manuscript published in the journal Limba română.^[8] Roman-Moraru described it as a late 16th-century Romanian manuscript with etymological notes.^[8] MDA2's first record is Ispirescu's tales of 1892, in a sentence about a woman's thefts of fruit from the gardens.^[3][11]

Semantic evolution

The word means the act of stealing and its result.^[12][4] In modern Romanian it is above all a legal term, the wrongful taking of another's movable property;^[4][3] furt prin efracție is burglary.^[4][3] The Lexicon of Buda (1825) gives it with furtișag as equivalents of Latin furtum and has furtu de quéle sânte “theft of holy things” for sacrilege.^[13]

Timeline

• c. 1600 – the first record, in a late 16th-century manuscript.^[8]
• 1825 – furtu and furtișagu in the Lexicon of Buda.^[13]
• 1892 – in Ispirescu's tales, MDA2's first record.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. theft: the offence of wrongfully taking a movable thing belonging to someone else, without their consent; stealing.^[4][1]
2. furt prin efracție: burglary, theft by breaking a door or a lock.^[3]

Word family

• furtișag

Related words

• fura
• fur
• Aromanian furtu

Usage notes

A separate regional adverb furt “always”, in tot furt “all the time”, comes from German fort.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e 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. furt
3. ^ 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, 956
4. ^ a b c d e DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 421
5. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 3606
7. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 482
8. ^ 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. furt
9. ^ Pușcariu, Sextil (1905), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der rumänischen Sprache I: Lateinisches Element, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 59
10. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Densusianu, Ov. (1907–1914), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române: elementele latine (A–Putea), București, p. s.v. furt
11. ^ 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. furt
12. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 2, 347
13. ^ a b 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. 230