lua

Forms

lua (third-person singular present ia, past participle luat, third-person subjunctive ia or regional ieie), 1st conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin levō (“to lift, raise”).^[2][3][1] Tiktin notes that the Latin verb “to raise” came to mean “to take” in the south and southwest of the Romance area.^[4] Candrea and Densusianu explain the Romanian sense from “to take away”, a sense also found in Late Latin and in Sardinian.^[5] Wiktionary derives the verb from an older luva, still a regional variant in the Banat; the loss of /l/ in some present forms is also found in ierta and iepure.^[1][2]

The verb is found in all four branches: Aromanian l'au, Megleno-Romanian leau and Istro-Romanian l'au.^[2][6] Its Romance cognates include Italian levare, French lever, Spanish llevar and Portuguese levar.^[2] Wiktionary also compares Vulgar Latin *ablevō, the possible source of Albanian blej.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The verb is in the Hurmuzaki Psalter of the early 16th century.^[7] Tiktin's first record is the Psaltirea Scheiană, and MDA2's the Codicele Voronețean (c. 1563–1583).^[4][3]

Semantic evolution

MDA2 records the old sense “to lift, raise”, close to the Latin, as obsolete and kept mainly in phrases.^[3] The usual sense is “to take”, with many extensions: to receive, to buy, to conquer, to take away, to eat or drink, to marry.^[8][2] Ciorănescu calls it a word of general use across the whole territory.^[2]

The verb is also an auxiliary of beginning: a lua foc “to catch fire”, a o lua la fugă “to break into a run”;^[2][8] Graur compared this use with Modern Greek πιάνω (piáno, “to take; to begin”).^[2][8] Derivatives include luător “taker” and prelua “to take over”, made after French prélever.^[2]

Timeline

• early 16th century – in the Hurmuzaki Psalter.^[7]
• c. 1563–1583 – in the Codicele Voronețean.^[3]
• 16th century – in the Psaltirea Scheiană.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. To take in the hand, pick up: Ia cartea de pe masă.^[8][1]
2. To eat or swallow, especially a medicine: a lua un antibiotic.^[8]
3. To put on clothing.^[8]
4. To remove, take away; to take a quantity from something.^[8]
5. To receive, get; to buy; to conquer; to marry: a lua de soție.^[8]
6. To take along: L-a luat cu el la piață.^[8]
7. To begin: a lua foc “to catch fire”.^[8]
8. (with o) To set off, to head somewhere: a o lua la stânga.^[8]

Word family

• luător
• luat
• prelua
• luare
• relua

Related words

• aluat
• Latin levō

Usage notes

The present is irregular: iau, iei, ia, luăm, luați, iau, with the subjunctive să ia.^[8] Moldavian has să ieie.^[4]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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. lua
3. ^ a b c d Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 1395
4. ^ a b c d Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. luá
5. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Densusianu, Ov. (1907–1914), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române: elementele latine (A–Putea), București, p. s.v. lua
6. ^ Capidan, Theodor (1935), Meglenoromânii III: Dicționar meglenoromân, București: Academia Română, p. 168
7. ^ 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 14:4
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 601