gutui

Forms

gutui m (plural gutui)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin cotōneus (“of the quince”), from Ancient Greek κυδώνιος (kudṓnios, “Cydonian”), probably through a form Vulgar Latin *cottaneus crossed with cottana (“a small fig”).^[2][3][1] The Oxford Latin Dictionary considers the Latin word probably cognate with, but not taken from, the Greek name of the “Cydonian apple”.^[4] DEX calls the word of unknown origin, and MDA2 only compares the Latin adjective.^[5][6] The DLRM of 1958 combined the Latin word with a Serbian form.^[7] Ciorănescu finds a Slavonic source less likely, and explains the likeness of Albanian ftua by the common Greek origin.^[2]

The word survives south of the Danube as Aromanian gutunj, and Ciorănescu gives a Megleno-Romanian form too.^[2][8][9] Its Romance cognates include Italian cotogna, French coing and Catalan codony.^[2][10] Romanian passed the word to Ukrainian and Russian.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to a document of 1634 in the Documenta Romaniae Historica collection.^[3] MDA2's first source is Mardarie's Slavonic–Romanian lexicon of 1649.^[6]

Semantic evolution

In Romanian, as in Aromanian, the masculine names the tree and the feminine the fruit: Pascu explains the Aromanian word's sense “quince tree” by this pattern, and the fruit is gutuie, a Romanian derivative of the tree name.^[11][2][5] In folk poetry the tree is often măr gutui “quince apple tree”, and Tiktin quotes a song: „Ridică-te, neguriță, De pe peri, de pe gutui” “rise, little mist, from the pear trees, from the quinces”.^[3] The word is used in Transylvania and in the compound măr-gutui.^[6][12] The fruit name is recorded from 1598, and Gutăie as a personal name from 1589.^[13]

Timeline

• 1634 – the first record, in a document published in the Documenta Romaniae Historica.^[3]
• 1649 – Mardarie's Slavonic–Romanian lexicon.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. The quince tree (Cydonia oblonga), a fruit tree with large, thick leaves, white to pink flowers and large, downy yellow fruit.^[5][6][1]

Word family

• gutuie

Related words

• Aromanian gutunj
• Latin cotōneus

Usage notes

The fruit is gutuie (plural gutui), so gutui is also the plural of the fruit name.^[5] Regional forms are gutăi in Moldavia, gutâi and gutii in Transylvania, and gutin in the Banat.^[3][2]

References

1. ^ a b c 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. gutui
3. ^ a b c d e Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. gutui
4. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1, 455
6. ^ a b c d e Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 1034
7. ^ Academia Republicii Populare Romîne (1958), Dicționarul limbii romîne moderne, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. s.v. gutui
8. ^ Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net), p. 525
9. ^ Saramandu, Nicolae (coord.) et al. (2010–), Dicționarul dialectului meglenoromân, general și etimologic, fascicles in Fonetică și dialectologie XXIX–, p. 199
10. ^ Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
11. ^ Pascu, Giorge (1925), Dictionnaire étymologique macédoroumain, 2 vols. (I: Les éléments latins et romans; II: Les éléments grecs, turcs, slaves, albanais, germaniques, magyars, néologismes, créations immédiates, obscurs), Iași: Cultura Națională, p. 1, 97
12. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 2, 431
13. ^ Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. gutuie