laur

Forms

laur m (plural lauri)^[1] Tiktin records the variants laor, laure, laore and alaur;^[2][3] MDA2 adds an old feminine laură.^[2][3] A calendar of 1814 recommends giving sheep „flori de laură” “flowers of thorn apple” in vinegar and salt.^[4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin laurus (“laurel, bay”).^{[5][6][2][7][1]} In the inherited word the name passed to a quite different plant, the thorn apple (“Datura stramonium”), the sense the REW gives for Romanian.^[6][5] Tiktin notes that the Latin name was later carried over to several other plants.^[2] The sense “laurel” is a learned borrowing from Latin, and the DLR adds Italian lauro as a model.^[5][4][1] The Romance cognates include Italian alloro, Occitan laur, Old French lor and Portuguese louro; French laurier and Spanish laurel are derivatives.^[5][8][6] The origin of the Latin word is unknown.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The DLR and Tiktin date the first record to 1443, when Laur occurs as a personal name in a Slavonic-Romanian document.^[4][2] MDA2 gives a record before 1563 from the DLR's files for the plant.^[3]

Semantic evolution

In popular use the word names the thorn apple, a poisonous weed of waste places with a strong smell, used in folk medicine for its narcotic seeds.^[3][4][2] Because the plant was believed to cause madness, a mânca laur “to have eaten thorn apple” means “to be out of one's mind”.^[2][8][7] Regionally the word is also an insult for a lazy or ugly person.^[3]

The sense “laurel tree”, with the laurel wreath as a sign of victory and glory, came in with learned writing; Șincai's chronicle already speaks of a laură worn as a crown of valour.^[4][5] Phrases such as a culege lauri “to win laurels” and a se culca pe lauri “to rest on one's laurels” belong to this sense.^[7][8] DEX also gives the word for the holly.^[7]

Timeline

• 1443 – Laur as a personal name in a Slavonic-Romanian document.^[4][2]
• before 1563 – the plant name.^[3]
• 1814 – flori de laură “thorn apple flowers” in a calendar.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. The laurel or bay tree (Laurus nobilis), whose leaves crowned heroes and poets; in the plural, fame, glory: a culege lauri “to win fame”, a se culca pe lauri “to rest on one's laurels”.^[7][1]
2. The holly (Ilex aquifolium).^[7]
3. The thorn apple (Datura stramonium), a poisonous plant with a bad smell, large white flowers and a spiny capsule;^[7][3] am mâncat laur? “am I mad?”.^[7][3]
4. (regional) A lazy, idle person; an ugly person.^[3]

Related words

• Latin laurus

Usage notes

In charms laur is paired with balaur “dragon”: șarpe laur, balaur; the DLR and MDA2 give it as a separate word, used with the sense of balaur.^[4][3] A regional laur “starling” is a variant of graur.^[4][3]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. láur
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 1316
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. laur
5. ^ a b c d e 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. laur
6. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 4943
7. ^ a b c d e f g h DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 579
8. ^ a b c Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 730
9. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press