luminos

Forms

luminos m or n (feminine singular luminoasă, masculine plural luminoși, feminine/neuter plural luminoase)^[1]

Etymology

For DEX, Scriban, Șăineanu and Graur it is inherited from Latin lūminōsus (“full of light”).^[2][3][4][5] DLR and MDA2 form it from Romanian lumină + -os.^[6][7] Tiktin allows both, and adds that the word at least leaned on lumină: that is why it has /i/ and not the /ɨ/ of lumânare.^[8] Wiktionary calls it inherited and equivalent to the noun with the suffix.^[1]

The word exists south of the Danube as Aromanian lunjinos, which Pascu takes from the Latin word and Wiktionary also explains as a local derivative.^[9][10][1] The Latin adjective is formed lūmen (“light”) with -ōsus.^[11][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is the Slavonic–Romanian Gospel book of Sibiu (1551–1553).^[8] MDA2 dates it to before 1569, in a text of Gaster's chrestomathy that DLR quotes: „O stea mai luminoasă decât alaltă” “one star brighter than the other”.^[7][6] The sense in these texts is “shining, giving light”, as in the Palia of Orăștie (1582): „Fie făpturi luminoase în tăriia ceriului” “let there be lights in the firmament of heaven”.^[6]

Semantic evolution

The first sense, of the sun, stars and other bodies that give light, was extended to rooms and places that let in much light, and then figuratively to faces and moods (cheerful, serene), to the mind (clear, penetrating) and to ideas and examples worth following.^[6][2][7] Scriban (1939) also gives the sense “enlightened, educated” for a mind or a person.^[3]

As a feminine noun, luminoasă is a plant, the upright clematis (Clematis recta); Ciorănescu reports that Scriban derives this name from Russian ломонос (lomonos) crossed with luminos.^[2][12] The Lexicon of Buda (1825) records luminos as a masculine noun for a plant as well.^[13]

Timeline

• 1551–1553 – in the Slavonic–Romanian Gospel book of Sibiu.^[8]
• before 1569 – o stea mai luminoasă “a brighter star”.^[7][6]
• 1582 – făpturi luminoase “lights” in the Palia of Orăștie.^[6]
• 1673 – in a Slavonic–Romanian lexicon, glossing Slavonic words for a bright face.^[14]
• 1688 – in the Bucharest Bible.^[15]
• 1825 – luminos as a plant name in the Lexicon of Buda.^[13]

Meanings

Adjective

1. luminous, bright: giving off light; shining: o stea luminoasă “a bright star”.^[2][7]
2. Of rooms and buildings: full of light, well lit.^[2][16]
3. (figurative) Happy, serene: un zâmbet luminos “a radiant smile”.^[2][7]
4. (figurative) Guiding; worthy of being followed: un exemplu luminos “a shining example”.^[2][7]
5. (figurative) clear, lucid; penetrating: o minte luminoasă “a lucid mind”.^[2][16]

Noun

1. (feminine, luminoasă) The upright clematis (Clematis recta), a herb of the buttercup family with white flowers, growing at forest edges in the hills and mountains.^[2][7]

Related words

• lumină
• Aromanian lunjinos
• Latin lūminōsus

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 604
3. ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1, 760
4. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 1, 372
5. ^ Graur, Alexandru (1980), Cuvinte înrudite, București: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică, p. 54
6. ^ a b c d e f Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. luminos
7. ^ 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, 1404
8. ^ a b c Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. luminos
9. ^ Pascu, Giorge (1925), Dictionnaire étymologique macédoroumain, 2 vols. (I: Les éléments latins et romans; II: Les éléments grecs, turcs, slaves, albanais, germaniques, magyars, néologismes, créations immédiates, obscurs), Iași: Cultura Națională, p. 1, 110
10. ^ Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net), p. 604
11. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. lūminōsus
12. ^ 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. lumină
13. ^ a b Lesicon românescu-latinescu-ungurescu-nemțescu quare de mai mulți autori, în cursul a trideci și mai multor ani s-au lucrat (1825), Buda: Typographia Universității (the Lexicon of Buda, ed. Petru Maior et al.), p. 362
14. ^ 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. luminos
15. ^ Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Mark 8:25
16. ^ a b Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. luminos