momeală

Forms

momeală f (plural momeli)^[1] Beside the plural momeli there is momele, mostly in the sense “enticements”: Creangă's „tata mă amâna cu momele de la o fântână la alta” “father put me off with promises from one well to the next”.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is formed from Romanian momi + -eală, from the verb “to lure, entice”.^{[2][5][6][4][1]} Ciorănescu lists it among the derivatives of the verb.^[7]

The verb is from Old Church Slavonic мамити (mamiti, “to deceive”), from *mamiti.^[1][7] MDA2 names Bulgarian мамя (mamja) and Serbo-Croatian mamiti instead.^[5] The verb survives south of the Danube as Megleno-Romanian mumes.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Anonymus Caransebesiensis, a Romanian–Latin glossary of the second half of the 17th century, which Tiktin dates to about 1670.^[5][4] There the word means an enticement, a deceitful means of luring someone.^[6]

Semantic evolution

The old texts use the word mostly in the plural for the temptations of the world and of the flesh: Maior wrote of the struggle „cu momealele veacului” “against the enticements of the age”, and a calendar of 1814 tells how Delilah begged Samson „cu momeale muierilor obicinuite” “with the wiles usual to women”.^[6] The early dictionaries gloss it with Latin illecebra, Klein's in 1801 and the Lexicon of Buda in 1825, the latter adding German Lockung, Verführung.^[8][9]

The concrete sense of food put on a hook or thrown to fish, and of food a hunter sets out for game, is old in proverbs: „Undița fără momeală nimic nu-ți dobândește” “a hook without bait catches you nothing”.^[4][10] Barcianu's dictionary of 1886 glosses it with German Lockspeise “bait”.^[11] The colloquial phrase cu șoșele, cu momele “with coaxing and false promises” is Muntenian in Tiktin's description.^[4][6]

Timeline

• c. 1650–1700 – the Anonymus Caransebesiensis, the first record.^[5][4]
• 1801 – Klein's dictionary glosses it with Latin illecebra.^[8]
• 1814 – momeale “wiles” in a calendar.^[6]
• 1825 – the Lexicon of Buda.^[9]
• 1886 – Barcianu: “bait”.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. A deceitful means of enticing or deceiving someone; a lure, a trick: Nu te lăsa prins de momelile lui.^[2][5][1]
2. (specifically) bait: food put on a hook or thrown to fish, or set out by a hunter to attract game; a synonym of nadă.^[2][5]
3. (figurative) A decoy, a person used to lure others.^[1]

Related words

• momi
• smomi

Usage notes

The phrase cu șoșele, cu momele means “with tricks and false promises”.^[2][5] A rare singular momea was made from the plural.^[6][5]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 668
3. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 3, 120
4. ^ a b c d e f Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. momeală
5. ^ 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, 47
6. ^ 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. momeală
7. ^ a b c 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. momi
8. ^ a b 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. 401
9. ^ a b Lesicon românescu-latinescu-ungurescu-nemțescu quare de mai mulți autori, în cursul a trideci și mai multor ani s-au lucrat (1825), Buda: Typographia Universității (the Lexicon of Buda, ed. Petru Maior et al.), p. 399
10. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 407
11. ^ a b Barcianu, Sava Popovici (1886), Dicționar român-germân și germân-român, revised by D. P. Barcianu, part I: român-germân, Sibiu: Institut tipografic, p. 389