Etymology and origin of the Romanian word mulsură
- Confidence
- Disputed
- Formation
- Derivation
- First attested
- 1825 Lexicon de la Buda More words from the 19th century
- Ultimate origin
- Latin mulgeō
Forms
mulsură f (plural mulsuri)[1]
Etymology
It is formed from Romanian muls + -ură, like strânsură.[2][3][4][5][1] Pușcariu, Candrea–Densusianu and the REW took it straight from Latin mulsūra (“a milking”), and DLR and MDA2 compare the Latin word.[5][6][7][3][4] The REW names Romanian as its only Romance survivor.[7] The Latin noun is formed on mulgeō (“to milk”) and is found in Calpurnius.[8][9]
Earliest recorded meaning
MDA2 dates the first record to the Lexicon de la Buda of 1825.[4] DLR quotes Marian on a flock of sheep that „la toată mulsura îi da câte douăsprezece vedre de lapte” “gave him twelve buckets of milk at every milking”.[3][10]
Semantic evolution
Besides the act of milking, the word names the milk taken at one milking from a ewe or from a whole flock: the Academy's questionnaires record that cheese is made from the first mulsură of spring, and that a host takes as many mulsuri as he has ewes in the flock.[3][11]
Timeline
- 1825 – first record, in the Lexicon de la Buda.[4]
- 1865 – Pisone glosses it mulgere and Latin mulsura.[12]
- 1886 – Barcianu glosses it German das Melken.[13]
- 1929 – Șăineanu defines it as the work of milking and its result.[14]
Meanings
Noun
- (regional) milking.[2][4][1]
- (regional) The quantity of milk taken at one milking from a ewe or from a flock.[3][11]
Related words
- mulge
- muls
- mulsoare
- Latin mulsūra
References
- ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ a b DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 680
- ^ a b c d e Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. mulsură
- ^ 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, 74
- ^ 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. mulge
- ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Densusianu, Ov. (1907–1914), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române: elementele latine (A–Putea), București, p. s.v. mulsură
- ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 5737
- ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
- ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 3, 140
- ^ a b Bulgăr, Gheorghe; Constantinescu-Dobridor, Gheorghe (2002), Dicționar de arhaisme și regionalisme, 2 vols., București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. mulsură
- ^ Pisone, Domițian (1865), Dictionariu românescu, latinescu, germanescu și francescu, lucrat după sistemul Lexiconului de Buda, București: Typografia Ioann Weiss, p. 232
- ^ Barcianu, Sava Popovici (1886), Dicționar român-germân și germân-român, revised by D. P. Barcianu, part I: român-germân, Sibiu: Institut tipografic, p. 393
- ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 1, 412
Cite this entry
“Mulsură.” Etymologically, 12 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/ro/mulsur%C4%83. Accessed 12 Nov. 2026.
Last edited on . ·