grăunte

Forms

grăunte m (plural grăunți)^[1] The older singular grăunț is neuter, with the plural grăunțe: Varlaam has „grăunț de grâu” “a grain of wheat”.^[2][3] Dosoftei has the old plural grăunțuri: „grăunțuri muiate într-apă” “grains soaked in water”.^[2][3] Transylvanian texts have a feminine grăunță.^[3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *granuceum, a diminutive of Latin grānum (“grain”), through the older singular grăunț.^[5][4][2][1] Ciorănescu gives *granutium beside the form in ⟨-uceum⟩ of Densusianu, Candrea–Densusianu, Pascu and the DA, and rejects Pușcariu's *granuculum, which would have given another result.^[6] He finds the sounds unclear: Latin should have given ⟨grănuț⟩, as in Aromanian, so a nasal infix must be assumed, ⟨*grănunț⟩, later dissimilated; the same holds if the word is grâu in its old form ⟨grănu⟩ with the diminutive suffix -uț.^[6] Scriban holds the word unconnected with ⟨grâu⟩.^[7]

The modern singular ⟨grăunte⟩ was remade from the plural ⟨grăunți⟩, after pairs such as frate and ⟨frați⟩, as in glonte and castravete.^[3][5][8] The word survives south of the Danube as Aromanian gãrnuts.^[1][9][6] The Latin word comes from Proto-Indo-European *ǵr̥h₂nóm.^[1][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is the Slavonic–Romanian Gospel book of 1551–1553, at Matthew 17:20, the grain of mustard seed.^[3] MDA2 dates the word to a Gospel book of 1574, where the kingdom of heaven is likened to a grain of mustard.^[4][2] Grăunț is also a personal name in 1552.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The first sense is a seed, above all of a cereal, and the plural came to mean grain, mostly oats and barley, fed to horses, as against hay: the 17th-century chronicler Axinte Uricariul writes of taking „nu numai fân, ce și grăunțe” “not only hay but also grain”.^[2][4] By analogy the word names a bead or any small particle of a mass, a grain of sand or salt, and figuratively a tiny amount: Țichindeal speaks of „un grăunț de minte” “a grain of sense”.^[2][5] In metallurgy it is a grain of metal formed when a crystal solidifies.^[5][4] Scriban records a avea grăunțe în cap “to be very stupid”.^[7]

Timeline

• 1551–1553 – the Slavonic–Romanian Gospel book, Matthew 17:20.^[3]
• 1552 – Grăunț as a personal name.^[3]
• 1574 – a Gospel book, the grain of mustard seed.^[4][2]
• 1688 – grăunț in the Bucharest Bible, Matthew 17:20 and Luke 17:6.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. A grain or seed of a plant, especially of a cereal: cât un grăunte de muștar “tiny”.^[5][4][1]
2. (in the plural) Grain, mostly oats or barley, given to horses as fodder.^[4][2]
3. A small piece like a grain, part of a larger mass: un grăunte de nisip.^[5][12]
4. (figurative) A very small amount of something.^[4][12]
5. (metallurgy) An irregular metal crystal formed in solidification or heat treatment.^[5][4]

Word family

• grăuncior
• grăunțos

Related words

• grâu
• Aromanian gãrnuts
• Latin grānum

Usage notes

The variants grăunț (neuter) and grăunță (feminine) are older or regional, and the plural grăunțe still names grain in bulk, as fed to hens.^[5][3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. grăunte
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. grăunte
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 1019
5. ^ 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. 449
6. ^ 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. grăunț
7. ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 574
8. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 282
9. ^ Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net), p. 488
10. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
11. ^ Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Mt 17:20
12. ^ a b Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. grăunte