miros

Forms

miros n (plural mirosuri)^[1]

Etymology

It is a back-formation from Romanian mirosi (“to smell”), as DEX, DLR, MDA2, Tiktin and Wiktionary give it.^{[2][3][4][5][1]} Ciorănescu accepts this but mentions the older view, held by Roesler and Murnu, that it comes straight from Modern Greek μύρωσις (mýrosis, “anointing”).^[6]

The origin of mirosi is disputed: Ciorănescu takes it from μυρώνω (myróno, “to perfume”) (aorist εμύρωσα (emýrosa)) after Graur and Pușcariu, comparing Old Serbian mirisati, and holds a Slavic source unnecessary.^[6] MDA2 derives the verb from Old Church Slavonic миросати (mirosati).^[4] Wiktionary gives both sources and compares Megleno-Romanian miruses.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Paraclis of 1639, which lists the five senses of the body: vederea, auzul, mirosul, gustarea, pipăirea “sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch”.^[3][4][5] Mardarie's Slavonic–Romanian lexicon of 1649 uses miros to gloss Slavonic words for smell.^[7]

Semantic evolution

The word names both the sense of smell and the smell given off by a body.^[2][3] A translation of Herodotus of 1645 already has greu la miros “heavy in smell”, and a text of 1683 speaks of precious ointment that will fill a place de miros bun “with a sweet smell”.^[3] The figurative sense “flair, perspicacity” is in Alecsandri: Miros bun, nas de copoi “a good nose, a hound's nose”.^[3]

In the old language the plural miroase meant spices, and it is still used for the seasoning of sausages.^[4][2] Regionally it also meant perfume.^[4] The stress varies: míros in the east, miros in the west and south.^[8]

Timeline

• 1639 – mirosul “the sense of smell” in the Paraclis, the first record.^[3][4][5]
• 1645 – greu la miros in a translation of Herodotus.^[3]
• 1649 – miros in Mardarie's lexicon.^[7]
• 1683 – miros bun “sweet smell”.^[3]
• 1688 – mirosul and mirosuri in the Bucharest Bible.^[9]
• 1801 – miros “sense of smell” in Klein's dictionary.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. The sense of smell, olfaction: Câinii au mirosul foarte fin.^[2][1]
2. (figurative) flair, intuition: Are miros pentru afaceri.^[2][3]
3. An odour, pleasant or unpleasant, given off by a body: un miros de pâine caldă.^[2][1]
4. (mostly in the plural miroase) Spices, seasoning.^[2][4]

Related words

• mirosi
• mirositor
• mir

Usage notes

The plural is mirosuri for the sense and the smell, miroase for spices.^[2] Regional variants include amiros, aminos and minos.^[4][5]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f 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. 659
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. miros
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 24
5. ^ 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. miros
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. mirosi
7. ^ a b Ungureanu, Mădălina; Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Moruz, Alexandru (eds.), eRomLex: The First Romanian Bilingual Dictionaries (17th century), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro
8. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 814
9. ^ Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Facerea 27:27
10. ^ Gáldi, László (ed.) (1944), Samuel Klein: Dictionarium valachico-latinum. Primul dicționar al limbii române, Budapest: Királyi Magyar Pázmány Péter Tudományegyetemi Román Intézet (Klein's dictionary of 1801, with Gáldi's etymological study), p. 399