mucos

Forms

mucos m or n (feminine singular mucoasă, masculine plural mucoși, feminine/neuter plural mucoase)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Romanian muc + -os, as DEX, MDA2, the DLR and Tiktin give it.^[2][3][4][5] Candrea–Densusianu and Pușcariu took it instead from Latin muccōsus (“snotty”), and Ciorănescu agrees that it may continue the Latin word;^[6][7][1] Wiktionary gives both views.^[6][7][1] muc is from Latin mūcus (“mucus, snot”).^[7][1]

The word survives as Megleno-Romanian mucos.^[8][7] The Latin adjective lives on in Catalan mocós, Spanish mocoso, Portuguese moncoso and Sardinian mukkozu.^[7][6] The medical senses follow French muqueux, and the noun mucoasă “mucous membrane” was formed after muqueuse.^[9][5][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is the Romanian–Latin glossary known as the Anonymus Caransebesiensis, which Tiktin dates to about 1670 and MDA2 to 1650–1700.^[5][3] Klein's dictionary (1801) glosses it Latin mucosus.^[10]

Semantic evolution

“With a runny nose” is the base sense,^[2] which gave the scornful name for a cheeky youngster who gives himself grown-up airs, frequent in 19th-century prose: Ispirescu's „un mucos ca tine” “a snotty-nose like you”.^[4][5][2] Regionally it is said of horses with glanders.^[4] In the 19th century anatomy and medicine gave it the senses “secreting mucus” and “slimy”, after French muqueux; a text of 1831 speaks of the mucous surfaces of the digestive organs.^[4][9] Eminescu applies it to a candle with a long, smoking wick: „mucoasa lumânare”.^[11][5]

Timeline

• c. 1670 – mucos in the Anonymus Caransebesiensis, the first record.^[5][3]
• 1801 – mucos in Klein's dictionary.^[10]
• 1825 – the Lexicon of Buda glosses it Latin mucosus and Hungarian taknyos.^[12]
• 1831 – mucoasele fețe “the mucous surfaces” of the digestive organs.^[4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. snotty, with a runny nose; often as a noun.^[2][3][1]
2. (derogatory) Of a young person: cheeky and immature, with pretensions beyond his age; țângău: Taci, mucosule!^[2][4]
3. Of a membrane: secreting mucus, mucous.^[2][9]
4. Of a secretion: slimy, sticky, gelatinous.^[2][3]
5. (regional) Of horses: suffering from glanders; răpciugos.^[3][4]

Word family

• mucoasă

Related words

• mucozitate
• muc
• mucoză
• Latin mūcus

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 679
3. ^ a b c d e f Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 70
4. ^ a b c d e f g Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. mucos
5. ^ 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. mucos
6. ^ a b c Candrea, I.-A.; Densusianu, Ov. (1907–1914), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române: elementele latine (A–Putea), București, p. 191
7. ^ a b c d e f 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. muc
8. ^ Capidan, Theodor (1935), Meglenoromânii III: Dicționar meglenoromân, București: Academia Română, p. 196
9. ^ a b c Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. mucos
10. ^ 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
11. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 3, 137
12. ^ 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. 404