minune

Forms

minune f (plural minuni)^[1] MDA2 lists an old variant minuine and the regional forms menune and minunie;^[2][3] Candrea and Densusianu record menune from the Banat.^[2][3]

Etymology

According to DEX and MDA2 it is inherited from Vulgar Latin *miriō (“one who marvels”), a noun formed on mīror (“to wonder at”).^[4][2] Candrea and Densusianu proposed this etymon, and Tiktin and Scriban follow it.^[5][6][7] Wiktionary gives the same chain, with an earlier Romanian form *mirune.^[1] The Latin verb comes from mīrus (“remarkable, astonishing”).^[1][8]

Ciorănescu calls the origin doubtful: the Latin noun is not continued anywhere else, and the sound change it needs is not certain.^[5] He lists the other proposals: Pușcariu derived the noun from mira “to wonder” through the same intermediate form;^[5] Crețu thought of mīrābilia (“wonders”), which is phonetically impossible;^[5] Körting proposed a form *mirabilionem.^[5] Ciorănescu himself suggests a back-formation from an expressive verb *miruna, derived from that verb like clătina and rușina.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is from 1526, in the Slavonic–Romanian documents.^[6] In Romanian texts it appears in Coresi's psalter of 1570, as minune in Psalms 70:8, 97:1 and 105:22.^[9] MDA2's first record is the Psaltirea Scheiană of about 1573–1578.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In the old texts the word is chiefly religious, the miracle worked by God or the saints: Coresi's Evanghelie cu învățătură speaks of the “many and great wonders” God had done for us.^[10] From “miracle” it widened to anything astonishing or out of the ordinary, then to a thing or person of exceptional beauty or quality, as in the phrase de minune “wonderfully”.^[4][2] Regional speech also uses it ironically for something very bad, a nuisance, and in some places minunea names the devil.^[2]

Its derivatives are minuna “to amaze; to wonder”, minunat “wonderful” and minunăție “marvel”.^[5]

Timeline

• 1526 – a record in the Slavonic–Romanian documents, the first.^[6]
• 1570 – minune, minunea and minunile in Coresi's psalter.^[9]
• c. 1573–1578 – in the Psaltirea Scheiană.^[2]
• 1581 – minuni in Coresi's Evanghelie cu învățătură.^[10]
• 1688 – minunile in the Bucharest Bible (Deuteronomy 34:12).^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A miracle: an extraordinary event attributed to God or to supernatural powers;^[4][2] ca prin minune “as if by a miracle, all at once”.^[4][2]
2. A wonder, a marvel: something astonishing or unusual;^[4][2] cele șapte minuni ale lumii “the Seven Wonders of the World”.^[4][2]
3. Something exceptionally beautiful;^[4] de minune “wonderfully, splendidly”: Rochia îi stă de minune.^[4]
4. A person with exceptional qualities.^[4][2]

Word family

• minuna
• minunat
• minunăție

Usage notes

Mare minune or minune mare is an exclamation of surprise, admiration or disbelief, and mare minune să… means “I would be surprised if…”.^[4] Minunea minunilor is a superlative of praise.^[4]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 19
3. ^ a b Candrea, I.-A.; Densusianu, Ov. (1907–1914), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române: elementele latine (A–Putea), București
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 657
5. ^ a b c d e f g 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. minune
6. ^ 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. minune
7. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 811
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b 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 97:1
10. ^ a b Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. minune