gleznă

Forms

gleznă f (plural glezne)^[1] Variants are gleaznă and glesnă, in Ispirescu „până la glesne” “up to the ankles”.^[2][3] The plural is glezne, regionally also glezni.^[3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Old Church Slavonic глезьнъ (glezĭnŭ, “ankle”), also written глезьна (glezĭna), from Proto-Slavic *gleznъ.^{[4][5][3][2][1][6]} It also survives south of the Danube: Aromanian gleznă.^[4]

Its Slavic cognates include Serbo-Croatian gležanj, Slovene gleženj, Bulgarian глезен (glezen), Polish glozna and Russian глёзна (glëzna).^[4][7][8] The further origin of the Slavic word is uncertain: Vasmer finds its relation to Lithuanian slesnas (“ankle”) unclear, and Derksen and Trubachev compare Old Norse klakkr (“lump”).^[8][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to about 1500, in a Slavonic–Romanian document.^[9] In Romanian texts it appears in Ureche's chronicle (c. 1642–1647), which tells how Ștefan vodă was hit by a gun „într-o gleznă” “in an ankle”.^[2][3] Mardarie's lexicon of 1649 has gleznele for Slavonic плеснѣ.^[10]

Semantic evolution

The word names the bony knob of the lower leg joint and, by extension, the thinner part of the leg between calf and heel.^[2][5] In some places, Weigand noted, glezne are only the hollows beside the joint bones.^[2] Dosoftei uses it of the tendons by which a martyr was hung, and of water reaching to the ankles.^[9][2] In horses and other animals it is the part of the leg between the cannon bone and the pastern.^[5][11] Regionally it can also mean the wrist and the forearm.^[3]

Because the ankle is low, până la gleznă or până-n glezne means “very little”: Pann's a învățat carte până la gleznă “he learned his letters only up to the ankle”.^[2][9] The proverb a face din călcâie până la glezne says that much work brought little gain.^[2][3]

Timeline

• c. 1500 – in a Slavonic–Romanian document, the first record.^[9]
• c. 1642–1647 – într-o gleznă in Ureche's chronicle.^[2][3]
• 1649 – gleznele in Mardarie's Slavonic–Romanian lexicon.^[10]
• 1660 – gleznă for Slavonic глезна in another Slavonic–Romanian lexicon.^[12]
• 1673 – pre la glezne “up to the ankles” in Dosoftei's verse psalter.^[2]
• 1688 – glezne in the Bucharest Bible.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. The ankle: the part of the leg where the shin meets the foot.^[5][1]
2. The bony bump on either side of this joint.^[5][3]
3. The thinner part of the leg just above this joint.^[5]
4. In animals, the part of the leg between the fluier (cannon bone) and the chișiță (fetlock).^[5][11]
5. (regional) The wrist; the forearm.^[3]

Word family

• gleznișoară

Related words

• Aromanian gleznă
• Proto-Slavic *gleznъ

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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. gleznă
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 1003
4. ^ a b c 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. gleznă
5. ^ 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, 441
6. ^ Kurz, Josef; Hauptová, Zoe (eds.) (1958–1997), Slovník jazyka staroslověnského / Lexicon linguae palaeoslovenicae, 4 vols. + supplements, Praha: Academia; digital ed. gorazd.org, p. s.v. глезьна
7. ^ Derksen, Rick (2008), Etymological Dictionary of the Slavic Inherited Lexicon, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 4, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 163
8. ^ a b Vasmer, Max (1964–1973), Ètimologičeskij slovar' russkogo jazyka, transl. and suppl. by O. N. Trubačev, 4 vols., Moskva: Progress, p. 1, 411
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. gleznă
10. ^ 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. gleznele
11. ^ a b Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. gleznă
12. ^ 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. gleznă
13. ^ Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. 2 Kings 13:18