junc

Forms

junc m (plural junci, feminine equivalent juncă)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin iuvencus (“young bull”).^{[2][3][4][5][1]} The Latin word is a derivative of the stem of iuvenis (“young”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂yuh₁n̥ḱós (“young animal”);^[6][1] De Vaan explains its unexpected ⟨-enc-⟩ as a Sabellic form or as influenced by the adjective and by iuventus.^[6][1] Scriban sets out the change as ⟨*juenc⟩ > ⟨*juînc⟩ > ⟨junc⟩, with crunt from cruentus as a parallel.^[7]

The word survives in all four branches: Aromanian giuncu, Megleno-Romanian junc and Istro-Romanian jungu.^[2][8][9] Its Romance cognates include Italian giovenco and Sicilian jencu.^[2][10] The feminine juncă continues iuvenca.^[5][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Psaltirea Hurmuzaki of the early 16th century writes ciuncu, a spelling DA calls a mistake.^[5] In Coresi's Psalter of 1570 God asks at Psalm 49:14 „au doară mănânc carne de junc sau sânge de țap beau?” “do I eat the flesh of young bulls or drink the blood of goats?”.^[4][11]

Semantic evolution

The word names a young bull or ox, between two and three years old, not yet put to the yoke.^[12][5] Tiktin defines it as cattle in its third year, after vițel in the first and mânzat in the second; dialect records count the ages differently.^[4][5] In Bible translations it renders the sacrificial bullock, and Pann's proverb runs dacă moare juncul, se răpune jugul “if the young ox dies, the yoke is lost”.^[5] It is also used as an attribute of bou.^[5]

The word gave place and personal names: Junc is a river in Hunedoara County, and Juncu is recorded as a personal name in 1758.^[1][13]

Timeline

• c. 1500-1520 – ciuncu in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki, the first record.^[5]
• 1570 – junc in Coresi's Psalter.^[11]
• 1574 – juncii in a Gospel book (Matthew 22:4).^[5]
• c. 1650-1700 – giunc glossing Latin juvencus in the Anonymus Caransebesiensis.^[5][3]
• c. 1660-1670 – juncul in a Slavonic–Romanian lexicon.^[14]
• 1688 – in the Bucharest Bible.^[15]
• 1825 – juncu with the diminutive juncuțu in the Lexicon de la Buda.^[16]

Meanings

Noun

1. A young bullock or bull, between two and three years old, not yet put to the yoke.^[12][3][1]

Word family

• juncan
• juncuț
• juncușor

Related words

• juncă
• june
• junincă
• Aromanian giuncu
• Latin iuvencus

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. junc
3. ^ a b c Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 1293
4. ^ 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. junc
5. ^ 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. junc
6. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
7. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 720
8. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 537
9. ^ 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, 93
10. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 4641
11. ^ 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 49:14
12. ^ a b DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 569
13. ^ Constantinescu, N. A. (1963), Dicționar onomastic romînesc, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. s.v. junc
14. ^ 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. juncul
15. ^ Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. 1 Samuel 16:2
16. ^ Lesicon românescu-latinescu-ungurescu-nemțescu quare de mai mulți autori, în cursul a trideci și mai multor ani s-au lucrat (1825), Buda: Typographia Universității (the Lexicon of Buda, ed. Petru Maior et al.), p. 338