luntre

Forms

luntre f (plural luntre)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin lunter (“small boat”), a popular variant of linter (“trough; skiff”).^{[2][3][4][5][6][1]} De Vaan gives the Latin word no etymology;^[7][1] Wiktionary compares Ancient Greek πλυντήρ (pluntḗr) and Proto-Indo-European *plew- (“to wash”).^[7][1]

Ciorănescu compares Albanian ljundrë, Dalmatian lundro and Modern Greek λούντρα (loúntra).^[2] He sets Aromanian lăndură beside it;^[8][9] Pascu takes the Aromanian word from Latin too, while Papahagi derives it from Albanian.^[2][8][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Codicele Voronețean, in the Acts of the Apostles: the sailors „spândzurară luntrea în mare” “let down the boat into the sea”.^[6][4][3]

Semantic evolution

The word has kept its sense of a small flat-bottomed boat rowed with oars.^[6][5] Seventeenth-century texts use it often: the New Testament of 1648, Miron Costin, Neculce, and the Slavonic–Romanian lexicons, which give it for Slavonic ладиа.^[6][10] Ion Creangă and Ispirescu used the phrase a se face luntre și punte “to make oneself boat and bridge”, to try every means.^[11][4] MDA2 also records it for the boat on old Austrian coins and, in the form luntrie, for a part of a mill.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 1563–1583 – luntrea in the Codicele Voronețean.^[3][6]
• 1648 – luntrea in the New Testament of 1648.^[6]
• 1649 – in Mardarie's Slavonic–Romanian lexicon.^[10]
• 1688 – luntrea in the Bucharest Bible.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. A boat with a flat bottom and raised bow and stern, used on calm waters; a rowboat.^[5][3][1]
2. luntre de Snagov: a large trough hollowed from a tree trunk.^[3]

Word family

• luntraș
• luntri
• luntrișoară

Related words

• Aromanian lăndură
• Latin linter

Usage notes

A se face (sau a se pune) luntre și punte means “to try every possible means”.^[5][3] A umbla în două luntri means “to play a double game”.^[3] The plural is luntri or luntre.^[5]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c 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. luntre
3. ^ 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, 1406
4. ^ 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. luntre
5. ^ a b c d e DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 605
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. luntre
7. ^ 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
8. ^ a b 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, 106
9. ^ a b Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 620
10. ^ 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. luntre
11. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 2, 797
12. ^ Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Luke 8:23