lungi

Forms

lungi (third-person singular present lungește, past participle lungit) 4th conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Romanian lung (“long”) + -i, as Ciorănescu, Tiktin, MDA2, the DEX and the DLR derive it.^{[2][3][4][5][6]} The adjective is from Latin longus (“long”).^[2] Wiktionary also allows Vulgar Latin *longiō, standing for Latin longīscō (“to become long”).^[1] That Latin verb is known only from two lines of Ennius quoted by Nonius, and the OLD suspects a confusion with languēscō.^[7]

Aromanian lundzescu has the same two explanations.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is the past lungiră in Coresi's Psalter of 1570, in Psalm 128: the ploughmen “lengthened” their furrows on the speaker's back.^[8] Tiktin cites the Psaltirea Scheiană (Psalm 119:5), and MDA2 Coresi's Carte de învățătură of 1581.^[3][4]

Semantic evolution

Old texts use the verb both of space and of time: Nicolae Costin tells that Prince Mihai lengthened a church, Neculce writes cât mi-a mai lungi Dumnezeu viața “as long as God lets me live”.^[3] In the old language it also meant to describe at length, to go on, and to put off.^[4][3]

Colloquial senses followed: to grow tall, and, reflexive, to stretch out on something, to lie down.^[5][9] In cooking it means to thin a soup or a drink with water so that there is more of it, as in a lungi ciorba.^[3][5] Many phrases are built on it: a i se lungi urechile de foame “to be starving”, a i se lungi ochii a drum “to long to travel”, a lungi pasul “to quicken one's step” and a nu lungi vorba “not to talk more than needed”.^[5][4]

Timeline

• 1570 – lungiră in Coresi's Psalter, the first record.^[8]
• c. 1573–1578 – lungi in the Psaltirea Scheiană.^[3]
• 1581 – lungi in Coresi's Carte de învățătură.^[4]
• 1649 – lungesc glosses Slavonic пробавлѧю “I prolong” in Mardarie's lexicon.^[10]
• 1801 – lungésc glossed Latin longo and prolongo in Klein's dictionary.^[11]

Meanings

Verb

1. To lengthen, to make or become longer, to stretch out.^[5] A lungi pasul: to walk faster.^[5][4] (reflexive, colloquial) To grow taller.^[5][1]
2. (reflexive, colloquial) To stretch out on something; to lie down.^[5][9]
3. To dilute a food or a drink so that there is more of it.^[5][12]
4. To make last longer or to last longer; to prolong.^[5][1]

Word family

• lungire

Related words

• lungime
• lung
• prelungi

Usage notes

A i se lungi cuiva nasul means “to become cheeky”.^[5][4]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. lung
3. ^ a b c d e f Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. lungi
4. ^ a b c d e f g Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 1406
5. ^ 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. 605
6. ^ Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. lungi
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. longisco
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 128:3
9. ^ a b Volceanov, George (2007), Dicționar de argou al limbii române, București: Niculescu, p. s.v. lungi
10. ^ 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. lungesc
11. ^ Gáldi, László (ed.) (1944), Samuel Klein: Dictionarium valachico-latinum. Primul dicționar al limbii române, Budapest: Királyi Magyar Pázmány Péter Tudományegyetemi Román Intézet (Klein's dictionary of 1801, with Gáldi's etymological study), p. 392
12. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. lungi