mut

Forms

mut m or n (feminine singular mută, masculine plural muți, feminine/neuter plural mute)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin mūtus (“dumb, inarticulate”).^{[2][3][4][5][6][1]} De Vaan explains the Latin word as “one who can say nothing but ⟨mū⟩”, from Proto-Indo-European *mū̆-to-.^[7]

It survives in all four branches: Aromanian mut, Megleno-Romanian mut and Istro-Romanian mut.^[2][8][9] Its Romance cognates include Italian muto, Sardinian mudu, Occitan mut, Catalan mut, Old French mu, Spanish mudo and Portuguese mudo.^[2][5][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to 1206, citing Drăganu, and records the personal name Mutul in 1520.^[11] In Romanian texts the adjective appears in the psalters: Coresi's psalter of 1570 and the Psaltirea Scheiană have it in Psalm 37:14, „Ca surdu nu auziiu și ca mut nu deșchiș rostul mieu” “like a deaf man I did not hear, and like a mute I did not open my mouth”.^[12][11] MDA2's first record is another verse of the Psaltirea Scheiană: „Mute să fie rosturile hicleane” “let the deceitful lips be mute”.^[3][6]

Semantic evolution

The first sense is “unable to speak”, said of people and of the organs of speech, and by analogy of animals that do not make their usual sounds.^[3][6] From it came “silent for a while, taciturn”, and the use for things done without words: film mut “silent film”, scenă mută “dumb show”, literă mută “silent letter”.^[4] As a noun it named the mute guards of the Byzantine and Ottoman courts, whose tongues had been cut out, and rarely an executioner.^[3] In folk use mut is also “dull, stupid person” or “ugly person”, often of a spouse.^[4][11][13] In Muntenia mutul is the masked leader of the călușari dancers.^[14]

Neighbouring languages borrowed the word: Bulgarian dialects have мут (mut, “mute”) from Romanian, and Transylvanian Hungarian has mutuj, whose ending adapts the Romanian article -ul.^[15][2][1] Ciorănescu also names Modern Greek μοῦτος (moûtos) as a loan from Romanian.^[2]

Timeline

• 1206 – first record, cited by Tiktin from Drăganu.^[11]
• 1520 – the personal name Mutul.^[11]
• 1570 – mut in Coresi's psalter (Psalm 37:14).^[12]
• c. 1573–1578 – mute in the Psaltirea Scheiană, MDA2's first record.^[3]
• 1688 – mutul “the dumb man” in the Bucharest Bible (Matthew 9:33).^[16]
• 1825 – the Lexicon de la Buda glosses mutu with Latin mutus, Hungarian néma and German stumm.^[17]

Meanings

Adjective

1. mute, dumb: unable to speak; often as a noun, a mute person.^[4][1]
2. Done or happening in silence, without words: cor mut “humming chorus”, film mut “silent film”, literă mută “silent letter”.^[4]
3. Unwilling or unable to speak at a given moment; taciturn by nature;^[13] (adverbial) noiselessly.^[4]
4. (of nature) Silent, still.^[4]
5. (regional, as a noun) An ugly person; a dull, stupid person.^[4][13]

Word family

• mutălău
• mutulică
• muți
• amuți
• muțește
• muțeală

Related words

• Aromanian mut
• Latin mūtus

Usage notes

Asta să i-o spui lui mutu “tell that to the mute” is said to someone one does not believe, and unde a dus surdul roata și mutul iapa “where the deaf man took the wheel and the mute the mare” means “very far away”.^[4] The adjective is a different word from the verb muta “to move”, whose first person is also mut: that verb continues Latin mutare.^[5]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e 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. mut
3. ^ 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, 87
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 686
5. ^ a b c Pușcariu, Sextil (1905), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der rumänischen Sprache I: Lateinisches Element, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 98
6. ^ a b c Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. mut
7. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
8. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 721
9. ^ Capidan, Theodor (1935), Meglenoromânii III: Dicționar meglenoromân, București: Academia Română, p. 199
10. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 5798
11. ^ a b c d e Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. mut
12. ^ a b 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 37:14
13. ^ a b c Ștef, Dorin (2021), Dicționar de regionalisme și arhaisme din județul Maramureș, 3rd ed., Baia Mare, p. s.v. mut
14. ^ Marin, Maria; Mărgărit, Iulia, Glosar dialectal. Muntenia, București: Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti”, p. s.v. mut
15. ^ Georgiev, Vladimir I. et al. (eds.) (1971–), Bălgarski etimologičen rečnik, Sofija: Izdatelstvo na Bălgarskata akademija na naukite, p. 4, 344
16. ^ Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Mt 9:33
17. ^ 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. 410