maimuță

Forms

maimuță f (plural maimuțe)^[1] The 17th-century texts also have moimă: the Moldavian law code of Vasile Lupu orders a parricide sewn into a sack „și într-acel sac și un dulău și un cocoș și o năpârcă și o moimă” “and in that sack a mastiff, a cock, a viper and a monkey”.^[2][3] Regional forms are Moldavian momiță, Transylvanian măimuță, măimucă and maiemuță, and Banat măimuc;^[4][5] Cantemir writes moimâță.^[6][7]

Etymology

Its origin is disputed.^[7][4][1] For DER it is borrowed from Ottoman Turkish میمون (maymun), of Arabic origin, following Miklosich, Eguilaz, Șăineanu, Berneker and Lokotsch.^[7] Șăineanu also derives it from the Turkish word: the original Romanian form was maimun, and the form with the suffix is a diminutive of Muntenia.^[2] He takes the Moldavian momiță from the older moimiță and moimă, which he compares with Hungarian majom.^[2]

Others prefer a Greek source.^[4][1] DER himself says that the standard form, adopted by the literary language after long hesitation, seems to come from Modern Greek μαϊμού (maïmoú).^[7] MDA2 gives Byzantine Greek μαϊμού (maïmoú) and the Turkish word;^[4] DEX compares the Greek and the Turkish words without choosing.^[5] Wiktionary gives Greek or Ottoman Turkish, from Arabic مَيْمُون (maymūn), with the ending reshaped after the suffix -uță.^[1] Scriban derives it from the Greek, which he takes from Turkish and that from Persian.^[8] Kriaras derives the Greek word itself from Turkish and that from Arabic.^[9] Tiktin alone calls it a Balkan word of unknown origin.^[6]

South of the Danube the masculine form without the suffix is used: Aromanian maimun and Megleno-Romanian măimun.^[7][10][11] The word is shared by the Balkan languages: Bulgarian маймуна (majmuna), Serbo-Croatian majmun and Albanian majmun.^[12][6] DER also compares Italian mammone, Old French maimon, Spanish mono and Portuguese mono.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin and the DLR date the first record to 1645, the Romanian translation of Herodotus, which says that monkeys are countless there.^[6][3] DER dates it to the 17th century.^[7]

Semantic evolution

The word meant the animal from the start.^[3] The Bucharest Bible of 1688 lists maimuțe among the cargo of the ships of Tarshish, beside gold, silver and ivory.^[13][6] Proverbs make it the type of the imitator: Pann's copilul e ca maimuța, ce vede face “the child is like the monkey: it does what it sees”.^[6][2]

From this came the figurative use for an ugly person or one who mimics others.^[5] In old slang the plural meant prostitutes;^[4] DER suggests a confusion with magmuză.^[4][7] Regionally it names a children's game in which the players copy a leader's gestures, and a scarecrow.^[4]

Timeline

• 1645 – maimuțe in the Romanian Herodotus, the first record.^[6][3]
• 17th century – moimă in the Moldavian law code and in Dosoftei.^[2][6]
• 1688 – maimuțe in the Bucharest Bible.^[13]
• c. 1705 – „Iară maimuța au sărit de au apucat fărâma de carne” “and the monkey jumped and snatched the piece of meat”.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A monkey, ape: a tropical animal much like a human in shape, intelligent and given to imitation.^[5][1]
2. (colloquial, derogatory) A very ugly person, or one who mimics others.^[5][4]
3. (slang, dated) A prostitute.^[4][14]
4. (thieves' slang) A briefcase, bag or suitcase as the object of a theft.^[14]
5. (regional) A children's game of copying the leader's gestures; a scarecrow.^[4]

Word family

• maimuți
• maimuțări
• maimuțărie
• maimuțăreală
• măimui
• momițărie

Related words

• Aromanian maimun

Usage notes

A fi în anii maimuței is a regional phrase for being old and senile.^[4]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Șăineanu, Lazăr (1900), Influența orientală asupra limbei și culturei române, vol. I: Introducerea; vol. II.1: Vorbele populare; vol. II.2: Vorbele istorice, literare, Indice, București: Socec, p. II.1, 245
3. ^ a b c d e Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. maimuță
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 1420
5. ^ a b c d e DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 612
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. maimúță
7. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. maimuță
8. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 768
9. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
10. ^ 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
11. ^ Capidan, Theodor (1935), Meglenoromânii III: Dicționar meglenoromân, București: Academia Română, p. 179
12. ^ Georgiev, Vladimir I. et al. (eds.) (1971–), Bălgarski etimologičen rečnik, Sofija: Izdatelstvo na Bălgarskata akademija na naukite, p. 3, 616
13. ^ a b Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. 2 Chr 9:21
14. ^ a b Volceanov, George (2007), Dicționar de argou al limbii române, București: Niculescu, p. s.v. maimuță