mătrice

Forms

mătrice f (plural mătrici)^[1] The oldest record has mitrece: „Mitrece a lu Dumnezeu, maica lu Hristos” “womb of God, mother of Christ” (c. 1580).^[2][3] MDA2 treats the word as a form of matrice, with the regional variants mătrică, matrici, metrice and metricie.^[3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin mātrīcem (“womb”), the accusative case of the Latin noun.^[5][6][7][1] The Latin word is formed on māter (“mother”) and meant a breeding animal and the womb.^[8][9] The word survives south of the Danube as Aromanian mãtricã (“milch ewe”), which has the sense of the Banat word.^[10][11] Pușcariu compares Sardinian madrighe (“ewe”), and holds that the Aromanian form, like northern Sardinian ⟨matrika⟩, points to Vulgar Latin *matrica.^[6]

It is a doublet of matrice, from French matrice, and of matriță, from German Matrize.^[5][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is the form mitrece “womb”, used of the Mother of God in a text of about 1580.^[2][7] Dosoftei's verse Psalter of 1673 has „din mătrice și din scăldătoare” “from the womb and the bath”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

“Womb” is the old literary sense; a newspaper of 1834 still speaks of embryos forming în mătrice.^[2] The phrase din mătrice meant “from birth, since conception”.^[2][3] Folk medicine used the word for an imagined internal illness that made women barren, then for colic, especially of newborns, which a calendar of 1814 already records.^[2] In Transylvania and Maramureș it means rheumatism, and also varicose veins.^[5][12] Damé records it as a cattle disease and a Muntenian glossary as a disease of horses.^[2][13]

The plant names (chamomile, feverfew, pellitory, speedwell) are listed by Ciorănescu and Tiktin;^[5][7][14] Pisone's dictionary of 1865 gives both the plant, Latin Matricaria, and the belly ache.^[5][7][14] In the Banat mătrice is a ewe that has lambed and gives milk, the sense Aromanian has.^[2][6]

Timeline

• c. 1580 – mitrece “womb” in a text published in Hasdeu's Cuvente den bătrâni.^[2][3]
• 1673 – din mătrice “from the womb” in Dosoftei's verse Psalter.^[2]
• 1814 – mătricea “colic” in a calendar.^[2]
• 1865 – mătrice “matricaria” and “belly ache” in Pisone's dictionary.^[14]
• 1905 – Pușcariu records the Banat sense “milch ewe”.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. (dated) The womb, uterus.^[5][1]
2. (popular) Intestinal colic, especially in newborns.^[5][3][1]
3. (regional, Transylvania and Maramureș) Rheumatism.^[5][12][1]
4. (regional, Banat) A ewe that has lambed and gives milk.^[5][3]
5. (botany) A name of several plants: German chamomile (Matricaria chamomilla), feverfew (Pyrethrum parthenium), pellitory (Parietaria officinalis) and speedwell (Veronica officinalis).^[5][1]

Word family

• mătricer

Related words

• matrice
• matriță

Usage notes

In the Banat a mătricer is the shepherd who keeps the milch ewes.^[5]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. mătrice
3. ^ a b c d e f Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 1443
4. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 1463
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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. mătrice
6. ^ a b c d Pușcariu, Sextil (1905), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der rumänischen Sprache I: Lateinisches Element, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 90
7. ^ a b c d Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. mătrice
8. ^ Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
9. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 671
11. ^ 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, 114
12. ^ a b Ștef, Dorin (2011), Dicționar de regionalisme și arhaisme din Maramureș, Baia Mare: Ethnologica, p. s.v. mătrice
13. ^ Marin, Maria; Mărgărit, Iulia, Glosar dialectal. Muntenia, București: Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti”, p. s.v. mătrice
14. ^ a b c Pisone, Domițian (1865), Dictionariu românescu, latinescu, germanescu și francescu, lucrat după sistemul Lexiconului de Buda, București: Typografia Ioann Weiss, p. 219