juncă

Forms

juncă f (plural junci, masculine equivalent junc)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin iuvenca (“heifer”), the feminine of iuvencus (“young bull”).^{[2][3][4][1][5]} Ciorănescu lists it among the derivatives of junc, adding that it may continue the Latin word, as Pușcariu and Candrea–Densusianu hold.^[6][7]

The word survives south of the Danube: Aromanian giuncã.^[8][1] Its cognate in Italy is Italian giovenca, recorded before 1333.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded in the plural in the 16th-century psalters: the Psaltirea Scheiană has giunci in a verse where the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki has giuncile and Dosoftei vacile.^[4][2] The sense is “young cows”.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The word names a young cow, between two and three years old (in some places three or four), that has not yet had a calf.^[4][3][2] The Bible of 1688 uses it for the sacrificial heifer: „au adus... pentru jărtva mântuirei junce doao” “they brought two heifers for the peace offering”.^[4] In a folk poem published by Alecsandri the Tatar demands „de fiecare casă câte-un miel ș-o giuncă grasă” “from every house a lamb and a fat heifer”.^[10][4] The Moldavian form giuncă is also Creangă's.^[4] Diminutives are juncuță and junicuță.^[4][10]

Timeline

• c. 1500-1520 – giuncile in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki, the first record.^[4]
• c. 1573-1578 – giunci in the Psaltirea Scheiană, MDA2's first record.^[2][4]
• 1649 – juncă in Mardarie's Slavonic–Romanian lexicon.^[11]
• 1688 – juncă in the Bucharest Bible.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. A heifer: a young cow, between two and three years old, that has not yet had a calf.^[3][2][1]

Word family

• juncuță

Related words

• junc
• junincă
• june
• Aromanian giuncã
• Latin iuvenca

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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, 1293
3. ^ a b c DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 569
4. ^ 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
5. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ 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
7. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Densusianu, Ov. (1907–1914), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române: elementele latine (A–Putea), București, p. s.v. junc
8. ^ Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net), p. 504
9. ^ Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
10. ^ a b 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
11. ^ 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. juncă
12. ^ Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Genesis 15:9