Etymologically

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

  1. (regional) milking.[2][4][1]
  2. (regional) The quantity of milk taken at one milking from a ewe or from a flock.[3][11]
  • mulge
  • muls
  • mulsoare
  • Latin mulsūra

References

  1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 680
  3. ^ 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
  4. ^ 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
  5. ^ 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
  6. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Densusianu, Ov. (1907–1914), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române: elementele latine (A–Putea), București, p. s.v. mulsură
  7. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 5737
  8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  9. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  10. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 3, 140
  11. ^ a b Bulgăr, Gheorghe; Constantinescu-Dobridor, Gheorghe (2002), Dicționar de arhaisme și regionalisme, 2 vols., București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. mulsură
  12. ^ Pisone, Domițian (1865), Dictionariu românescu, latinescu, germanescu și francescu, lucrat după sistemul Lexiconului de Buda, București: Typografia Ioann Weiss, p. 232
  13. ^ Barcianu, Sava Popovici (1886), Dicționar român-germân și germân-român, revised by D. P. Barcianu, part I: român-germân, Sibiu: Institut tipografic, p. 393
  14. ^ 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.

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