minut

Forms

minut n (plural minute)^[1] Besides minute, the plural minuturi is used for dishes cooked to order.^[2] The old language also had a feminine minută, the form of the Bucharest Bible (Luke 4:5).^[3][4] An old variant minunt occurs in Beldiman: „Puține minunturi ce au șăzut împreună cu mine, cu câtă repejune au trecut!” “how quickly the few minutes he sat with me went by!”^[5] Tiktin explains its -n- by the influence of mănunt, a variant of mărunt.^[3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin minūtus (“small”), taken as a noun in the 17th century, according to Ciorănescu, who compares Modern Greek μινοῦτο (minoúto) and the French word.^[6] MDA2 and the DLR name several sources at once: the Latin word, Italian minuto, French minute, Russian минута (minuta) and German Minute.^[7][5] DEX gives the French, Italian, Russian and German words, Wiktionary the French, Italian and Latin ones.^[2][1] The word thus came in through several languages of learning and trade.^[8]

The European word goes back to Medieval Latin minūta, the feminine of the adjective used as a noun for the smallest division of time.^[9][8] The adjective is the past participle of minuō (“to make smaller, diminish”).^[1][10] The same Latin adjective was inherited as mărunt “small”, an inherited doublet.^[1][6][11] Aromanian has both: an inherited adjective Aromanian minut (“small, fine”) and a noun for the minute.^[12][13][14]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is the Bucharest Bible of 1688, which has the feminine minută.^[3][4] MDA2 dates the word from Cantemir's Istoria ieroglifică (1704), where it is the unit of time: Cantemir reckons that 1500 minutes are more than enough for the exchange of an answer.^[7][5]

Semantic evolution

In the old language the word often came with a qualifier, minut de ceas or minut de vreme “a minute of the hour, of time”, and meant a short space of time as well as the exact sixtieth of an hour: an 18th-century chronicle tells of an earthquake that lasted „un minut de ceas”.^[5][7] Tiktin still records un minut de ceas as dated and familiar.^[3] From the time sense came phrases such as la minut “on the spot, at once”, which also names food cooked to order, and in mathematics the word names the sixtieth part of a degree.^[2][15] The feminine minută was later specialised for a draft document, the minutes of a meeting and the operative part of a court ruling.^[2]

Timeline

• 1688 – the feminine minută in the Bucharest Bible (Luke 4:5).^[3][4]
• 1704 – minute as a unit of time in Cantemir's Istoria ieroglifică.^[7][5]
• late 18th century – un minut de ceas in a Moldavian chronicle.^[5]
• 1870 – Costinescu defines it as the sixtieth part of an hour and of a degree.^[16]

Meanings

Noun

1. A minute, the unit of time of sixty seconds; more loosely a short while, a moment: Vin într-un minut. La minut means “on the spot”, din minut în minut “at any moment”.^[2][7]
2. (in the plural minuturi) Simple dishes cooked on the spot when the customer orders them.^[2]
3. (mathematics) A minute of arc, the sixtieth part of a degree.^[2][17]

Word family

• minutar

Related words

• mărunt
• minută
• Latin minūtus

Usage notes

DEX enters the feminine minută (plural minute) in the same article for a draft of a map or plan, the minutes of a meeting and the part of a court decision that states the ruling.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. 657
3. ^ a b c d e Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. minut
4. ^ a b c Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Luke 4:5
5. ^ a b c d e f Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. minut
6. ^ 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. minut
7. ^ a b c d e Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 20
8. ^ a b Gabinschi, Marcu (2001), Dicționar de dublete etimologice ale limbii române, 2nd ed., Chișinău: Litera, p. 127
9. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. minute
10. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. minūtus
11. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 5600
12. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 686
13. ^ 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, 117
14. ^ Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net), p. 656
15. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. minut
16. ^ Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 2, 100
17. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. minut