neghină

Forms

neghină f (plural neghine)^[1] The plural is neghine, also neghini: „veni pizmașul lui și semănă între grâu neghini” “his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat” (Bible of 1688, Matthew 13:25).^[2][3] Regional variants include negină and negrină.^[4]

Etymology

Its origin is uncertain: DEX, DLR and MDA2 call it of unknown origin.^[2][5][4] Pușcariu, Tiktin and the REW take it as inherited from Vulgar Latin *nigellīna, through a form *niglīna, built on Late Latin nigella (“black cumin”);^{[6][3][7][8][1]} that is the feminine of nigellus (“blackish”), from niger (“black”).^[9][1] Tiktin points out that both plants are weeds of the grain fields with deep black seeds.^[3] Körting and Densusianu proposed *nigrīna instead.^[8][1]

Ciorănescu finds neither Latin form convincing and calls the word suspect; he thinks it hard to separate from neg and năgară, and takes it as probably formed with the suffix -ină, as in ciorchină and vizuină.^[8]

The Megleno-Romanian form is migľină, which Capidan also takes from the same Latin form.^[10][8][1] Its Romance relatives are the names of the corncockle and black cumin: Italian nigella, French nielle and Portuguese nigella.^[6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is the New Testament of 1648, in the parable of the wheat and the tares (Matthew 13:27).^[3] MDA2 cites a text of before 1652 from Gaster's chrestomathy.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The word names the corncockle, a weed of wheat fields whose small black seeds, ground with the grain, spoil the flour; by restriction also those seeds.^[2][5] In the Bible of 1688 it renders both the ζιζάνιον (zizánion, “darnel”) of the Gospel parable and the μελάνθιον (melánthion, “black cumin”) of Isaiah.^[3] The parable gave the figurative senses: what is harmful and must be removed, a semăna neghină “to sow discord”, already in Dosoftei, and a alege neghina din grâu “to separate the bad from the good”.^[3][2] A proverb says nu e grâu fără neghină “there is no wheat without corncockle”, nothing is perfect.^[3]

Scriban also gives it for ryegrass, and in Transylvania it is a name of the cornflower.^[11][12] Ciorănescu records that the word passed into Ukrainian as nehyn.^[8]

Timeline

• 1648 – in the New Testament of Bălgrad (Matthew 13:27), the first record.^[3]
• before 1652 – in a text of Gaster's chrestomathy.^[4]
• c. 1660–1670 – glosses Slavonic зизаниа “tares” in a Slavonic–Romanian lexicon.^[13]
• 1682–1686 – a semăna neghină “to sow discord” in Dosoftei's lives of the saints.^[3]
• 1688 – neghini and neghină in the Bucharest Bible (Matthew 13:25, Isaiah 28:25).^[3][14]

Meanings

Noun

1. corncockle: an annual weed of the pink family with hairy stem and leaves, purple-red flowers and small black seeds, common in wheat fields (Agrostemma githago); by restriction its seeds, which make flour bitter and toxic.^[2][5][1]
2. (figurative) Something harmful or dangerous that must be weeded out; a cause of discord.^[2][11]

Word family

• neghiniță
• neghinos

Related words

• neg
• năgară
• Megleno-Romanian migľină

Usage notes

A alege neghina din grâu (or grâul din neghină) means “to separate the good from the bad”, and a semăna neghină “to sow discord”.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 702
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. neghină
4. ^ a b c d Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 125
5. ^ a b c Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. neghină
6. ^ a b Pușcariu, Sextil (1905), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der rumänischen Sprache I: Lateinisches Element, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 100
7. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 5915
8. ^ 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. neghină
9. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ Capidan, Theodor (1935), Meglenoromânii III: Dicționar meglenoromân, București: Academia Română, p. 189
11. ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 862
12. ^ Panțu, Zach. C. (1929), Plantele cunoscute de poporul român. Vocabular botanic cuprinzând numirile române, franceze, germane și științifice, 2nd ed., București: Editura Casei Școalelor, p. 192
13. ^ 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. neghină
14. ^ Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Isaiah 28:25