junghietură

Forms

junghietură f (plural junghieturi)^[1] The variant junghetură, under which the DA has the word: „O lovi cu cuțitul cu trei giungheturi” “he struck him with the knife three times” (Dosoftei).^[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from Romanian junghia + -ătură (DEX, MDA2, the DA and Ciorănescu write the suffix -tură).^{[4][3][2][5][1]} For the sense “nape of the neck” the DA, Candrea and Densusianu and the others Ciorănescu cites start from a Vulgar Latin *iugulatūra, from iugulō (“to cut the throat”) and ultimately iugulum (“throat, collarbone”), the place where the yoke rests.^[2][5][6][1] Tiktin derives it from the verb too, as the place where the animal is struck, but allows that the Latin word for the throat and iunctūra (“joint”) may have played a part; the REW finds Pușcariu's blend of these two less likely.^[7][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Dosoftei's lives of the saints (1682–1686): Tiktin dates the passage to 1683.^[3][7] There it has both main senses: a stab with a knife and the nape of the neck, struck so hard “that the nape broke”, de-i frânsă giunghetura.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The derivative named the act of slaughtering and its victim: the Pravila quoted in CADE uses it for an animal slaughtered as an offering to idols, a sense now obsolete.^[2][3] In folk charms it is the stabbing pain of a stitch, the sense of junghi.^[2][7]

The anatomical sense, the joint of the spine with the base of the skull, and by extension the neck, lives on in the phrase a frânge (a rupe) junghietura cuiva “to break someone's neck”, used by Ispirescu, Caragiale and Stancu.^[9][7][4]

Timeline

• 1683 – giungheturi “stabs” and giunghetura “the nape” in Dosoftei's lives of the saints, the first record.^[7][2]
• 19th century – jungheturi “stitches” in a folk charm collected by Teodorescu.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (popular) A sharp stabbing pain, a stitch, junghi.^[4][3]
2. (popular) The joint of the spine with the base of the skull; by extension the nape of the neck, the neck.^[4][9]
3. (obsolete) A stab; the act of slaughtering; an animal slaughtered as a sacrifice.^[3][2][1]

Related words

• junghia
• jungher
• junghi
• înjunghia
• jug

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. junghetură
3. ^ a b c d e f 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 d DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 569
5. ^ a b 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. junghia
6. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Densusianu, Ov. (1907–1914), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române: elementele latine (A–Putea), București, p. s.v. junghietură
7. ^ 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. junghietúră
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 4607
9. ^ a b Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 2, 708