luci

Forms

luci (third-person singular present lucește, past participle lucit) 4th conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *lūcīre, a fourth-conjugation variant of Latin lūceō (“to shine”).^{[2][3][4][1][5]} Tiktin notes that the change of conjugation is widespread in Romance.^[5] The Latin verb belongs with lūx (“light”).^[6]

It survives in Aromanian luțescu, and Ciorănescu cites Istro-Romanian rezluțescu.^[2][7] The same variant gave Old French luisir, Occitan luzir, Spanish lucir and Portuguese luzir, while French luire continues the classical form.^[2][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first records are in the 16th-century psalters, where the verb still has its old conjugation: the Psaltirea Voroneț and Coresi's psalter of 1570 have the form luci, and the old present is luce “shines”.^{[9][10][5][11]} The sense is the light of the sun or of God.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The old present luce gave way to lucește, the conjugation of the infinitive luci.^[5] The core sense is “to give out light”, said of the sun and stars, as in Dosoftei and Neculce.^[4][12] It widened to things that reflect light, such as polished weapons, and to eyes that shine with feeling;^[12] a-i luci ochii departe means “to want something other than what one is offered”.^[12][4] Figuratively it is said of ideas that flash through the mind and of people who stand out.^[3] In Banat and Muntenia it also means “to caress”.^[12]

Romanian formed luciu “gleam, polished surface”, a deverbal noun whose likeness to Slavonic lučĭ “light” Ciorănescu takes as chance, and lucios and lucitor “shining”.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1551–1558 – luci in the Psaltirea Voroneț.^[9]
• 1570 – luci in Coresi's psalter.^[10]
• 1589 – the gerund lucind in Coresi's psalter of 1589.^[13]
• 1673 – lucesc in Dosoftei's verse psalter, printed at Uniev.^[12]

Meanings

Verb

1. (intransitive) to give out light; to shine.^[3][1]
2. (intransitive) to glitter in the light; of eyes, to shine with an emotion or desire.^[3][12]
3. (intransitive, figurative) of ideas or feelings, to appear suddenly or briefly; of people, to stand out.^[3]
4. (transitive, regional) to caress.^[12]

Word family

• luciu
• luceală
• lucios
• lucitor

Related words

• luceafăr
• luced
• lucoare
• străluci
• Aromanian luțescu
• Latin lūceō

Usage notes

A-i luci (cuiva) ochii departe is said of someone who has his eye on something better than what he is offered.^[12]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d 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. luci
3. ^ a b c d e DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 602
4. ^ a b c Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. luci
5. ^ 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. luci
6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 645
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 5136
9. ^ 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 96:12
10. ^ 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 84:12
11. ^ Candrea, I.-A. (1916), Psaltirea Scheiană comparată cu celelalte psaltiri din sec. XVI și XVII traduse din slavonește, vol. II: Glosarele, București: Socec, p. 329
12. ^ 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, 1398
13. ^ 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 64:11