jneapăn

Forms

jneapăn m (plural jnepeni)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *ienīperus (“juniper”), the popular form of Latin iūniperus.^[2][3][4] DELI finds the popular form written giniperus about 800 AD.^[5] Wiktionary takes the word from the variant jneapăr.^[1] The origin of the Latin word itself is uncertain.^[6]

The word survives south of the Danube: Aromanian giuneapine and Megleno-Romanian juneapin.^[2][7][8][9] Its Romance cognates include Italian ginepro, Old French genoivre, Catalan ginebre and Spanish enebro.^[2][10] The learned ienupăr is its doublet.^[2][1]

The variant ⟨jneap⟩ (plural ⟨jnepi⟩) is a singular formed by analogy, ⟨jneapăr⟩ having been taken for a plural.^[2] Ciorănescu derives jep “dwarf pine” from that earlier form;^[2] Pușcariu thought it a Celtic word.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the word to the 16th century from the Romanian words in Slavonic documents.^[11] The first Romanian text in MDA2 and DA is an undated farming manual for the Romanian schools of Hungary, Povățuire cătră Economia de câmp, which names „sămânța cea de brad sau șneapănul” “the seed of the fir, or the juniper”.^[4][3]

Semantic evolution

The name covers both the juniper and the dwarf mountain pine (Pinus mugo, jep), which look alike.^[2][12] DA records the fruit of the juniper as a sense, and the Lexicon de la Buda (1825) has oleu de șneapăn “juniper oil” and vinars de șneapăn “juniper brandy”.^[3][4] In Transylvania șneapăn-mare is the dwarf pine and jneapăn-pitic the Siberian juniper.^[4][3][13] The forms vary much by region: jnepen, jneapăr, jireapăn, șneapăn, Banat jărap and jireapeț.^[3][4] Jepi is the name of two peaks in Prahova County.^[11] Ciorănescu notes that a Ruthenian word for the juniper was borrowed from Romanian.^[2]

Timeline

• 16th century – in the Slavonic–Romanian documents, the first record.^[11]
• 1825 – oleu de șneapăn and vinars de șneapăn in the Lexicon de la Buda.^[3]
• 1929 – Panțu's plant dictionary lists jneapăn for the juniper and the dwarf pine.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. (botany) The dwarf mountain pine (Pinus mugo); jep.^[12][4]
2. (botany) The juniper (Juniperus communis); ienupăr.^[12][1]
3. The fruit of the juniper, from which volatile oils are made.^[4][3]

Word family

• jnepeniș

Related words

• ienupăr
• jep
• Aromanian giuneapine
• Latin iūniperus

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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. jneapăn
3. ^ a b c d e f g 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. jneapăn
4. ^ 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, 1286
5. ^ Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 537
8. ^ 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, 94
9. ^ Capidan, Theodor (1935), Meglenoromânii III: Dicționar meglenoromân, București: Academia Română, p. 162
10. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 4624
11. ^ a b c Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. jneapăn
12. ^ a b c DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 566
13. ^ a b Panțu, Zach. C. (1929), Plantele cunoscute de poporul român. Vocabular botanic cuprinzând numirile române, franceze, germane și științifice, 2nd ed., București: Editura Casei Școalelor, p. 140