laudă

Forms

laudă f (plural laude)^[1]

Etymology

It is a back-formation from Romanian lăuda (“to praise”).^[2][3][4] The verb continues Latin laudō (“to praise”).^[5][6]

Tiktin and Ciorănescu leave open whether the noun is formed on the verb or continues inherited from Latin laudem (“praise”), the accusative of the Latin noun.^[7][6] Candrea and Densusianu, Scriban and Șăineanu give the Latin noun as the source, which Candrea and Densusianu say changed its declension.^[8][9][10] They compare Italian lode (old loda), Old French los and Catalan lloa.^[8] Ciorănescu compares Albanian laft, Spanish loa and Portuguese loa.^[6] The Latin noun goes back to Proto-Indo-European *lēwt- (“song, sound”).^[1] South of the Danube, Aromanian alavdã is likewise explained from the verb or from the Latin accusative.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

MDA2's first record is the Codicele Voronețean (c. 1563–1583).^[4] There the noun already means “boasting”: „Toată lauda ceea ce e așa rea iaste” “all such boasting is evil” (James 4:16).^[7] The DLR's quotations begin with the Psaltirea Scheiană: „derepţilor cuvine-se laudă” “praise befits the upright”.^[3][7]

Semantic evolution

The religious and the general sense, “praise, glory” and “commendation”, are recorded together from the 16th century: the New Testament of 1648 says that he who speaks of himself seeks his own praise.^[3] The pejorative sense “boasting” is as old, and in old chronicles it could mean a threat: the Tatars sent word to Prince Grigore “with the boast” that they would plunder the country.^[7][1] MDA2 adds a hymn of praise to God and flattery.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 1563–1583 – the Codicele Voronețean, MDA2's first record.^[4][7]
• c. 1573–1578 – the Psaltirea Scheiană.^[7][3]
• 1648 – the New Testament.^[3]
• 1777 – „Să dai laudă și mulțămită lui D-zeu” “give praise and thanks to God” in a manuscript.^[7]
• 1825 – the Lexicon de la Buda gives Latin laus and also lauda sa “boasting”.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. praise, commendation: words that express esteem for someone or something.^[2][4][1]
2. (in exclamations) Glory! honour!^[2]
3. (religion) Praise and glory of God; a hymn of praise.^[4][1]
4. boasting; exaggeration of one's merits.^[4][1][7]
5. flattery.^[4]
6. (obsolete) A threat.^[1][7]

Word family

• lăudos

Related words

• lăuda
• lăudăros
• lăudabil
• Aromanian alavdã
• Latin laus

Usage notes

The proverb Lauda de sine nu miroase a bine “self-praise does not smell good” is in common use.^[7][12][1] The word is pronounced in three syllables, la-u-dă, in careful speech and in two in common speech.^[13][1] Old texts have a genitive-dative lauziei or laudeei.^[7]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 579
3. ^ a b c d e Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. láudă
4. ^ 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, 1316
5. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 1329
6. ^ a b c 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. lăuda
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. láudă
8. ^ a b Candrea, I.-A.; Densusianu, Ov. (1907–1914), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române: elementele latine (A–Putea), București, p. s.v. laudă
9. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 730
10. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 358
11. ^ 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. 345
12. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. laudă
13. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 2, 726