lumânare

Forms

lumânare f (plural lumânări)^[1] Transylvanian and Oltenian speech also has luminare, already in the Pravila of Govora, which also has lumunare.^[2] MDA2 lists the old variants luminare and numănare.^[3] Wiktionary lists the older spelling lumînare.^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin lūmināria, the neuter plural of lūmināre (“light, lamp”), from lūmen (“light”).^[3][4][1] Ciorănescu and Tiktin give the Latin singular as the etymon, and Ciorănescu notes that the word could also be a Romanian derivative of lumina.^[5][2]

The word survives in Aromanian as luminare and in Megleno-Romanian as luminari.^[5][6][7] Other Romance descendants of the Late Latin plural are French lumière, Occitan lumeira, Catalan llumenera, Spanish lumbrera and Portuguese lumieira, with senses from “light” to “lamp stand”.^[8][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

MDA2's first record is the Codicele Voronețean.^[3] The Psaltirea Scheiană has the word in Psalm 138, where Tiktin's first record is.^[2][9]

Semantic evolution

The word has meant “candle” from the earliest texts;^[2][3] Tiktin glosses it as “light, candle”.^[2][3] Its place in the rites of death gave several phrases: a candle is put into the hand of a dying person, so a ține cuiva lumânarea is to keep watch at someone's deathbed and a muri fără lumânare to die a sudden death.^[2][4] Other phrases are drept ca lumânarea “bolt upright” and pe la aprinsul lumânărilor “at nightfall”.^[4][10]

Later senses are an old unit of light intensity, about one candela, and the name of a mullein, Verbascum phlomoides.^[4] In football slang a lumânare is a ball clumsily kicked straight up.^[11]

Timeline

• c. 1563-1583 – the first record, in the Codicele Voronețean.^[3]
• 1570 – lumînarea in Coresi's psalter.^[9]
• c. 1573-1578 – lumînare in the Psaltirea Scheiană.^[2][9]
• 1649 – in Mardarie's lexicon, for Slavonic свѣща “candle”.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. A candle: a thin cylinder of wax or another solid fat with a wick, which burns to give light.^[4][1]
2. (dated) A unit of luminous intensity, roughly equal to a candela.^[4]
3. A plant with pale yellow flowers in a long spike, mullein (Verbascum phlomoides).^[4]
4. (football slang) A ball kicked clumsily straight up into the air.^[11]

Word family

• lumânărar
• lumânărică

Related words

• lumină
• lume
• Aromanian luminare

Usage notes

Phrases: drept ca lumânarea “very straight”, la lumânare “by candlelight”, a căuta ceva cu lumânarea “to search high and low”, a ține cuiva lumânarea “to keep watch at someone's deathbed”.^[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 Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. lumânare
3. ^ a b c d e f Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 1401
4. ^ 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. 603
5. ^ a b 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. lumînare
6. ^ Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net), p. 602
7. ^ Capidan, Theodor (1935), Meglenoromânii III: Dicționar meglenoromân, București: Academia Română, p. 175
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 5162
9. ^ a b c 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 138:10
10. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1, 760
11. ^ a b Volceanov, George (2007), Dicționar de argou al limbii române, București: Niculescu, p. s.v. lumânare
12. ^ 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. lumînare