mănușă

Forms

mănușă f (plural mănuși)^[1] An older form, mostly Muntenian, is mânușă, as in Pann's proverb „olarul oalele când face, pune mânușa unde îi place” “when the potter makes his pots, he puts the handle where he likes”.^[2][3] The regional plural mănușe is found beside the usual mănuși.^[4]

Etymology

It is formed from Romanian mână + -ușă, a diminutive of the word for “hand”.^[4][3][1][2] Ciorănescu derives it with the diminutive suffix -uș and thinks the singular was rebuilt from the plural ⟨mănuși⟩.^[5] mână is from Latin manus (“hand”).^[2] Scriban considered Latin manucia as well, and the Lexicon de la Buda compared Italian manica, but these were the views of their time.^[6][7]

South of the Danube, Aromanian mãnushi is a parallel formation on mãnã.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to 1508.^[2] MDA2 begins with Dosoftei's Lives of the Saints, where martyrs are tortured with sharp iron „mânuș”: „cu mânuș ascuțâte, brânci de her, îi strujiră coastele” “with sharp gloves, iron claws, they scraped his ribs”.^[4][2]

Semantic evolution

As a “little hand”, the word named many things held in the hand or that hold: the handle of a pot or jug, a door latch in Moldavia, the haft of a knife, the grip of tools and the side pieces of a loom, and a handful of hemp or flax, the same as mănunchi.^[4][2][5][8] The old torture instrument was a “glove” of sharp iron.^[4][2] The sense “glove” is in the Lexicon de la Buda of 1825 and is the main one today;^[7] DEX keeps “handle” as regional and as a term of archaeology.^[7][3] Phrases from the custom of chivalry came with it: a arunca cuiva mănușa “to challenge someone to a duel”, a ridica mănușa “to accept the challenge”, and a umbla cu mănuși “to handle someone with care”.^[3][6] Underworld slang uses it for handcuffs.^[9]

Timeline

• 1508 – the first record.^[2]
• 1682–1686 – mânuș “glove” as an instrument of torture in Dosoftei's Lives of the Saints.^[4][2]
• 1825 – the Lexicon de la Buda: “glove” and “bundle of hemp”.^[7]
• 1960 – mănuși-răzătoare, gloves with a rough back for peeling potatoes, in the press.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. A glove of wool, leather, rubber and so on that covers and protects the hand.^[3][4]
2. (colloquial) A handful or bundle of hemp, flax or grain.^[3][11]
3. (regional; archaeology) The handle of a pot or jug; generally, a part of an object by which it is held.^[3]

Word family

• mănușar
• mănușat
• înmănușat
• înmănușa
• mănușerie

Related words

• mână
• mănunchi
• Aromanian mãnushi

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. mănușă
3. ^ a b c d e f g DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 628
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, 1454
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. mănușă
6. ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 787
7. ^ a b c d 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. 375
8. ^ Densusianu, Ovid (1915), Graiul din Țara Hațegului, București: Socec, p. 322
9. ^ Volceanov, George (2007), Dicționar de argou al limbii române, București: Niculescu, p. s.v. mănușă
10. ^ Dimitrescu, Florica (1997), Dicționar de cuvinte recente, 2nd ed., București: Logos (with the 3rd ed., 2013, in CLRE), p. s.v. mănușă
11. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 3, 37