lucru

Forms

lucru n (plural lucruri)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin lucrum (“material gain, profit”) according to Pușcariu and the REW, a view Ciorănescu accepts as probable.^[2][3][4][5] The word exists in all four branches: Aromanian lucru, Megleno-Romanian lucru and Istro-Romanian lucru.^[2] The Latin noun goes back to Proto-Indo-European *leh₂w- (“profit, gain”).^[1][5]

It may instead have been formed in Romanian from the verb lucra, itself from Latin lucrō (“to gain”);^[1][6] Wiktionary gives both explanations, and the Romanian Wiktionary takes the noun as a back-formation from the verb.^[1][6][2] Ciorănescu calls the shift from “to gain” to “to work” normal, comparing French travailler, which can also mean “to bring in money”.^[2] The REW compares the range of meanings “business, matter, thing” with Bulgarian, Slavonic and Modern Greek words for “work” that have the same senses.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The plural lucrurile and the form lucrul occur in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki of the early 16th century, in the sense “works, deeds”.^[7][8] The old sense “gain, profit” appears in Coresi's Evanghelie cu învățătură of 1581, MDA2's first record.^[3][9] Tiktin's first record is the Psaltirea Scheiană.^[10]

Semantic evolution

The Latin sense “gain, profit” survived into the 17th century, with the phrase fără (de) lucru “without profit, in vain” and also “wrongfully”: a document of 1591 says that someone had entered an estate fără lucru, without right.^[3][9][10] From “gain” and “business” the word came to mean work and activity, and then any thing or object, which is its main sense today.^[2][11]

The 17th-century Slavonic–Romanian lexicons use it to translate Slavonic words for “deed” and “work” as well as for “thing”.^[12] In legal language it names movable and immovable property, and in philosophy Kant's “thing in itself” is lucru în sine.^[11][3]

Timeline

• early 16th century – lucrul, lucrurile “work, works” in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki.^[8]
• 1581 – lucru “gain” in Coresi's Evanghelie cu învățătură, MDA2's first record.^[3][9]
• 1591 – fără lucru “wrongfully” in a document.^[9][10]
• 1649 – the word in Mardarie's Slavonic–Romanian lexicon.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. A thing or object: anything that exists, apart from living beings, thought of as a unit of its own;^[11][3] lucru în sine “thing in itself” in Kant's philosophy.^[11][3]
2. Something owned, a possession; in the plural, belongings.^[11][1]
3. work, activity, task; a deed or action: zi de lucru “working day”, haine de lucru “work clothes”.^[11][10]
4. (obsolete) profit, gain, benefit.^[3]

Related words

• lucra
• Latin lucrum

Usage notes

The old plural lucre is recorded beside the modern lucruri.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. lucra
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 1399
4. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 5146
5. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
6. ^ a b Wikționar (Romanian Wiktionary), ro.wiktionary.org
7. ^ 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 8:6
8. ^ 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 16:5
9. ^ a b c d Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. lucru
10. ^ 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. lucru
11. ^ a b c d e f DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 602
12. ^ a b Ungureanu, Mădălina; Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Moruz, Alexandru (eds.), eRomLex: The First Romanian Bilingual Dictionaries (17th century), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. s.v. lucrul