munte

Forms

munte m (plural munți)^[1] MDA2 records an old and regional monte and a regional feminine muntea, plural munțile.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin mōns (“mountain”), from the accusative montem.^{[4][2][3][1][5]} The Latin word goes back to Proto-Indo-European *men- (“to stand out, tower”).^[1][6]

It survives in all four branches: Aromanian munti, Megleno-Romanian munti and Istro-Romanian munte.^[4][7] Its Romance cognates include Italian monte, Spanish monte, Portuguese monte, French mont, Occitan mont and Catalan munt.^[4]

The derivative muntos may continue montuōsus directly, as Pușcariu held.^[4] From the name Muntenia Polish took multanka, a kind of flute.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin gives 1443 as the first date, from DERS.^[8] In Romanian texts the plural munții appears in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki of the early 16th century.^[9] MDA2 dates the first record to the Psaltirea Scheiană, where Psalm 71:3 prays that the mountains may receive justice.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

In Transylvania the word also means mountain pasture, and regionally la munte can mean out to the open fields and meadows where cattle graze.^[4][3] Figuratively it is a heap or great quantity of something, or a very tall, strong man.^[10] Munte de pietate “pawnshop” is a calque of French mont-de-piété.^[3]

Timeline

• 1443 – the first record Tiktin gives, from DERS.^[8]
• early 16th century – munții in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki.^[9]
• 1570 – munții in Coresi's Psalter.^[9]
• 1573–1578 – munții in the Psaltirea Scheiană.^[2]
• 1688 – „Munții săltară ca berbecii” “the mountains skipped like rams” in the Bucharest Bible.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A mountain: a rise of the earth's surface higher than a hill, usually rocky and over 800 metres; mountain country.^[10][2][1]
2. (figurative) A heap or great amount of something; a very tall, sturdy man.^[10]
3. (regional) Mountain pasture.^[4][3]

Word family

• Muntenia
• muntean
• muntenesc
• muntenește
• munticel
• muntos

Related words

• Aromanian munti
• Latin mōns

Usage notes

Prin munți și văi “over mountains and valleys” means everywhere.^[10] Munte de pietate was the name of a pawnshop.^[10][3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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, 77
3. ^ 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. munte
4. ^ a b c d e f g 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. munte
5. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 5664
6. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
7. ^ Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net), p. 682
8. ^ a b c Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. munte
9. ^ a b c Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Ungureanu, Mădălina; Moruz, Alexandru et al., roPsalt: Re-evaluating the Sixteenth Century Romanian Psalters (aligned corpus), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. Ps 71:3
10. ^ a b c d e DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 682