miel

Forms

miel m (plural miei, feminine equivalent mia)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin agnellus (“little lamb”), a diminutive of agnus (“lamb”).^{[2][3][4][5][6][1]} The Latin word survives in all four branches of Romanian: Aromanian njel, Megleno-Romanian ńel and Istro-Romanian mlʼe.^[2][7][1][8] Its Romance cognates include Italian agnello, French agneau, Occitan anhel and Catalan anyell.^[2][9]

The sound history is difficult.^[2] Candrea and Densusianu, followed by Tiktin, start from an intermediate form with /mn/, simplified to /m/;^[10] Tiktin compares the loss of /n/ in dumitale.^[2][3] Meyer-Lübke rejected this, and Rosetti proposed a form with /ɲ/ that was later replaced, a view Ciorănescu finds unlikely.^[2] Ciorănescu himself points to the Aromanian form and to mia, miță and mior as evidence that initial /gn/ became /mn/ and then /n/.^[2] Byhan explains the Istro-Romanian /ml/ by dissimilation of /mn/.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word appears in the earliest Romanian psalter, the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki of the early 16th century, where Psalm 113:4 has the plural mieii “the lambs”.^[11][4] The Psaltirea Scheiană renders the same verse „Codrii giucară ca berbecii, și munții ca miei oilor” “the forests leapt like rams and the mountains like the lambs of the sheep”.^[3] The sense was the young of the sheep, as it still is.^[3][12]

Semantic evolution

The core sense, the young (male) of the sheep, has stayed the same since the first texts.^[12][5] The word also names Christ, Mielul lui Dumnezeu “the Lamb of God”; the New Testament of 1648 speaks of garments washed white „în sângele mielului” “in the blood of the Lamb”.^[3][12][4] By transfer it came to mean the meat and the fur of the animal, and figuratively a meek, gentle person.^[4][5][13]

Folk phrases include zăpada mieilor “the lambs' snow”, a late spring snowfall, a avea somnul mieilor “to sleep long” and a umbla ca mielul orbului “to wander about unkempt or aimlessly”.^[3][4][5] In slang the word also means “penis”.^[14][1] The feminine mia is mostly used as a diminutive, and the diminutives mieluț, mielușel and mioară are common;^[11] mioară also names a ewe lamb in its second year.^[3]

Vasmer explained Russian merlucha “lambskin” from a Romanian diminutive of the word;^[11] Ciorănescu thinks it more likely a Russian formation.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1500–1520 – mieii “the lambs” in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki (Psalm 113:4), the first record.^[11][4]
• 1532 – a record in a Slavonic–Romanian document.^[3]
• 1626 – „oi cu miei” “ewes with lambs” in a document.^[12]
• 1648 – „în sângele mielului” “in the blood of the Lamb” in the New Testament of 1648.^[12]
• 1649 – mielul glosses Slavonic agnecŭ “lamb” in Mardarie's lexicon.^[15]
• 1688 – miel, mielul and mieilor throughout the Bucharest Bible.^[16]

Meanings

Noun

1. A lamb: the young of the sheep, especially a male, in its first months.^[5][4]
2. The dressed fur of a lamb, lambskin: un guler de miel “a lambskin collar”.^[5][3]
3. Lamb as meat: friptură de miel “roast lamb”.^[5][4]
4. (figurative) A meek, gentle person.^[4][13]
5. (religion) Mielul lui Dumnezeu: the Lamb of God, Christ.^[4][3]
6. (slang) Penis.^[14][1]

Word family

• mielar
• mielușel
• mieluț
• mioară

Related words

• mia
• miță
• Aromanian njel
• Latin agnellus

Usage notes

Zăpada (or omătul) mieilor is the snow that sometimes falls late in spring.^[5] The proverb mielul blând suge la două oi “the gentle lamb sucks from two ewes” is said of people who gain from both sides.^[17]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. miel
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. miel
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 7
5. ^ a b c d e f g h DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 652
6. ^ Pușcariu, Sextil (1905), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der rumänischen Sprache I: Lateinisches Element, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 92
7. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 795
8. ^ Kovačec, August (1998), Istrorumunjsko-hrvatski rječnik (s gramatikom i tekstovima), Pula, p. s.v. mlʼe
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 284
10. ^ a b Byhan, Arthur (1899), Istrorumänisches Glossar, Sechster Jahresbericht des Instituts für rumänische Sprache zu Leipzig: 174–366, p. 278
11. ^ a b c d 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 113:4
12. ^ 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. miel
13. ^ a b Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 1, 398
14. ^ a b Volceanov, George (2007), Dicționar de argou al limbii române, București: Niculescu, p. s.v. miel
15. ^ 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. mielul
16. ^ Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Exodus 29:39
17. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. miel