hrană

Forms

hrană f (plural hrane)^[1] Regional variants are hărană (Transylvania), hârană (the Țara Moților) and arană (Oltenia); the old plural was hrane, the modern rare one hrăni.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Old Church Slavonic храна (xrana, “food”), a word of the Slavonic layer.^{[4][5][3][2][1]} Compare Bulgarian храна (xraná) and Serbo-Croatian hrana.^[4][6] The Slavonic noun continues Proto-Slavic *xorna (“food, fodder”), beside the verb *xorniti “to preserve, guard”.^[6][7] Its further origin is disputed: Vasmer reports the comparison with Latin servō (“to save, preserve”), and Wiktionary also cites an Iranian source and a native Slavic derivation.^[8][1]

The noun survives south of the Danube: Aromanian hrană.^[4][9][10] The verb hrăni “to feed”, from Slavonic хранити (xraniti), has the Aromanian counterpart hrănescu and the Megleno-Romanian rănes.^[4][9][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is the personal name Hrană in a charter of 1478.^[2] The Psaltirea Hurmuzaki of the early 16th century has the common noun “food”.^[12] MDA2's first record is the Codicele Voronețean (c. 1563–1583), where Paul urges the sailors „deci rogu voi să luați hrană” “so I beg you to take food”.^[3][13]

Semantic evolution

The core sense is food for people and fodder for animals.^[5][13] From the 17th century it is also used figuratively, of spiritual food: the Bible of 1688 has „duhovnicească hrană a credincioșilor” “the spiritual food of the faithful”.^[13] Pământ or loc de hrană was arable land, and hrană alone could mean the land or the crop one lives on; it also meant the occupation that keeps one alive, as when Miron Costin writes of men who knew no other living than soldiering.^[13][2] In Transylvania hărană means “rye”.^[3] The plant name hrana-vacii “cow's food” is the corn spurrey, Spergula arvensis.^[5][14]

Timeline

• 1478 – the personal name Hrană in a charter.^[2]
• early 16th century – hrană in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki.^[12]
• c. 1563–1583 – „să luați hrană” in the Codicele Voronețean.^[3][13]
• 1649 – in Mardarie's Slavonic–Romanian lexicon.^[15]
• 1669–1671 – hrana “the land or crop one lives on” in a document.^[13]
• 1688 – “spiritual food” in the Bucharest Bible.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. food: everything that serves to nourish people, animals or plants; meals, fodder: Animalele își caută hrana iarna.^[5][1]
2. (figurative) Spiritual or intellectual food: hrană pentru minte.^[13][16]
3. hrana-vacii: corn spurrey (Spergula arvensis), a fodder plant with small white flowers.^[5][3]
4. (regional, in the form hărană) rye.^[3]
5. (rare) An occupation from which one makes a living.^[3][13]

Word family

• hrănaci
• hrăni
• hrănitor
• hraniște

Related words

• Aromanian hrană

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. hrană
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 1089
4. ^ a b c d 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. hrană
5. ^ a b c d e DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1, 481
6. ^ a b Derksen, Rick (2008), Etymological Dictionary of the Slavic Inherited Lexicon, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 4, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 204
7. ^ Derksen, Rick (2008), Etymological Dictionary of the Slavic Inherited Lexicon, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 4, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 205
8. ^ Vasmer, Max (1964–1973), Ètimologičeskij slovar' russkogo jazyka, transl. and suppl. by O. N. Trubačev, 4 vols., Moskva: Progress, p. 4, 273
9. ^ a b Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 562
10. ^ Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net), p. 546
11. ^ Capidan, Theodor (1935), Meglenoromânii III: Dicționar meglenoromân, București: Academia Română, p. 245
12. ^ a b Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Ungureanu, Mădălina; Moruz, Alexandru et al., roPsalt: Re-evaluating the Sixteenth Century Romanian Psalters (aligned corpus), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. Ps 22:1
13. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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. hrană
14. ^ Panțu, Zach. C. (1929), Plantele cunoscute de poporul român. Vocabular botanic cuprinzând numirile române, franceze, germane și științifice, 2nd ed., București: Editura Casei Școalelor
15. ^ 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. hrană
16. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. hrană