lume

Forms

lume f (plural lumi)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin lūmen (“light”).^[2][3][1][4] It survives in all four branches: Aromanian lume, Megleno-Romanian lumi and Istro-Romanian lume.^[5][6][7][2] Its Romance cognates keep the sense “light” or “fire”: Italian lume, Occitan lum, Catalan llum, Spanish lumbre and Portuguese lume.^[2][4] Wiktionary calls the neologism ⟨lumen⟩ a doublet.^[1]

The sense “world” is usually explained as a loan meaning from Old Church Slavonic свѣтъ (světŭ), which meant both “light” and “world”.^[4][1][8] Ciorănescu, citing Rosetti for the Slavonic explanation, thinks the change could also have happened on its own, since Hungarian világ has both meanings too.^[2][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first records are in the Hurmuzaki Psalter of the early 16th century.^[10] The old sense “light” survives in the 16th-century psalters in lumea ochiului “the apple of the eye”: Coresi writes „Păzește-mă, Doamne, ca lumea ochiului” “Keep me, Lord, as the apple of the eye” (Psalm 16:8).^[11][12] MDA2's first record is the Psaltirea Scheiană.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Wiktionary suggests the path “light” > “the open, where all can see” > “the public” > “all people” > “the whole world”, and says that “world” displaced the old sense.^[1] The sense “light” lived on in phrases such as i se întunecă lumea “everything went dark before his eyes” and a ieși la lume “to come out into the open”.^[12][13]

Today the word means the universe, the earth, humankind and people in general: lumea is “people, everyone”.^[13][1] Derivatives include lumesc “worldly, secular”, lumeț “fond of society” and lumește.^[2][12]

Timeline

• early 16th century – lume and lumea in the Hurmuzaki Psalter.^[10]
• 16th century – lumea ochiului “the apple of the eye” in the Psaltirea Scheiană and Coresi.^[11]
• 1570 – lumea in Coresi's psalter.^[14]
• 1649 – Mardarie's lexicon uses lumea to gloss Slavonic вселеннаа “the inhabited world”.^[15]

Meanings

Noun

1. The world, the universe: all that exists.^[13][1]
2. A planetary system; a large domain of reality: lumea organică “the organic world”.^[13]
3. The earth with its living things, the inhabited world: Lumea Nouă “the New World”.^[13]
4. (dated, regional) light;^[13][1] lumea ochiului “the pupil of the eye”.^[13][1]
5. Humanity, all people.^[13][1]
6. People, the public, society; a social group: lumea artiștilor “the world of artists”.^[13][1]
7. Life, existence: a veni pe lume “to be born”.^[13]

Word family

• lumesc
• lumeț
• lumește

Related words

• lumină
• lumen
• Aromanian lume
• Latin lūmen

Usage notes

Expressions: ca lumea “properly”, de râsul lumii “a laughing stock”, a-și lua lumea în cap “to leave everything and go away” and de când lumea “since time began”.^[13]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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. lume
3. ^ a b Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 1402
4. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 5161
5. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 641
6. ^ Capidan, Theodor (1935), Meglenoromânii III: Dicționar meglenoromân, București: Academia Română, p. 174
7. ^ Kovačec, August (1998), Istrorumunjsko-hrvatski rječnik (s gramatikom i tekstovima), Pula
8. ^ Derksen, Rick (2008), Etymological Dictionary of the Slavic Inherited Lexicon, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 4, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 476
9. ^ Benkő, Loránd (ed.) (1967–1976), A magyar nyelv történeti-etimológiai szótára, 3 vols., Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, p. 3, 1144
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 32:8
11. ^ a b Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. lume
12. ^ a b c Candrea, I.-A.; Densusianu, Ov. (1907–1914), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române: elementele latine (A–Putea), București, p. s.v. lume
13. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 603
14. ^ 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 9:8
15. ^ 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. lumea