nebunie

Forms

nebunie f (plural nebunii)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Romanian nebun + -ie.^[2][3][1][4] The adjective nebun (“mad”) is itself formed from Romanian ne- + bun (“good”).^[3][1] The same derivative is found in Megleno-Romanian nibunilʹă.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR dates the first record to Coresi's Tetraevanghel of 1560–1561, and Tiktin locates it in Mark 7:22, among the vices of the heart.^[4][5] MDA2 starts with Coresi's Evanghelie cu învățătură of 1581, where the sense is “wickedness”: „nebunie drăcească” “devilish folly”.^[3][6]

Semantic evolution

Old texts used it for moral faults more than for madness: wickedness, sinfulness, disobedience, straying, and debauchery.^[6][3] The Bible of 1688 renders Ancient Greek ἄνοια (ánoia, “folly”) with it: „Iară ei se împlură de nebunie” “but they were filled with madness” (Luke 6:11).^[5] The 17th-century Slavonic–Romanian lexicons gloss Slavonic безумие “madness” with it.^[7] The medical sense “insanity” came to the front in the modern language, beside lighter senses such as “prank” and “high spirits”.^[2][3] La nebunie “madly” intensifies verbs of love and liking.^[5][2]

Timeline

• 1560–1561 – first record, in Coresi's Tetraevanghel.^[4][5]
• 1581 – „nebunie drăcească” in Coresi's Evanghelie cu învățătură.^[3][6]
• 1649 – glossing Slavonic безумие in Mardarie's lexicon.^[7]
• 1688 – “madness, folly” in the Bucharest Bible.^[5]
• 1801 – Klein's dictionary glosses it with Latin stultitia and dementia.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. madness, insanity: loss of reason through mental illness;^[1] la nebunie (colloquial): madly, enormously.^[2][3][1]
2. Lack of sound judgement, recklessness, foolishness; restlessness, wildness.^[2][3]
3. A reckless or extravagant act or word, a folly, (mostly in the plural) a prank.^[2][3]
4. (obsolete) wickedness, sinfulness.^[3][6]

Related words

• nebun
• bun

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 697
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 116
4. ^ a b c d Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2011–), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române (DELR), vol. I: A–B (2011), vol. II: C (2015–2018), București: Editura Academiei Române; continued online at delr.lingv.ro, p. s.v. bun
5. ^ 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. nebunie
6. ^ a b c d Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. nebunie
7. ^ a b Ungureanu, Mădălina; Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Moruz, Alexandru (eds.), eRomLex: The First Romanian Bilingual Dictionaries (17th century), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. s.v. nebunie
8. ^ 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. 405