nod

Forms

nod n (plural noduri)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin nōdus (“knot”).^{[2][3][4][1][5]} It survives in Aromanian nod and Megleno-Romanian nod,^[2][6][7] and has Romance cognates such as Italian nodo, Spanish nudo and Portuguese nó.^[2][8] The origin of the Latin word is uncertain: de Vaan considers a loanword possible, and Wiktionary gives Proto-Indo-European *gned- (“to bind”) as one explanation.^[9][1] The nautical sense “knot”, a unit of speed, follows French nœud, and the technical sense “node” of a network follows the same French word and English node.^[10][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is a Gospel text of 1551–1553, where „Se piiare un nod al teu” (Matthew 5:29) uses the word in its old sense “limb, joint of the body”.^[12] MDA2's first record is the Anonymus Caransebesiensis glossary (c. 1650–1700).^[3]

Semantic evolution

The sense “joint, limb” is old;^[12][4] DEX still lists “joint, knuckle” as a dated and popular sense.^[12][4] The sense “knot” in a thread or rope appears in a proverb: „Ața lungă face noduri” “a long thread makes knots”.^[12] The knot of a tree or of a plant stem gave the phrase a căuta nod în papură “to look for a knot in a bulrush”, to find fault where there is none.^[4] Figuratively the word names the lump in the throat of someone moved or upset, whence a înghiți noduri “to swallow knots”, to bear grief or humiliation in silence, and the crux of a problem, as in nodul gordian.^[4][12] The technical senses (a junction of roads or railways, a point of a curve or of a crystal lattice, a node of an orbit) are listed by DEX.^[4] In thieves' slang the word meant the place where a victim keeps his money, a wallet.^[13][2]

Timeline

• 1551-1553 – nod “limb, joint” in a Gospel text (Matthew 5:29), the first record.^[12]
• c. 1650-1700 – in the Anonymus Caransebesiensis glossary.^[3]
• 1825 – the Lexicon de la Buda gives the knot in a rope, in wood and at the joint of a straw.^[14]

Meanings

Noun

1. A knot tied in a thread, a string or a strip of cloth; the bond made in this way;^[4][3] în noduri tangled;^[4][3] a lega paraua cu zece noduri to be very stingy.^[4][3]
2. A junction of roads or railway lines: nod de cale ferată; a point where parts of a mechanism or a structure meet.^[4]
3. A knot on a tree trunk or a plant stem, the point where branches or leaves grow; a hard round spot in a piece of timber.^[4]
4. (dated, popular) A joint, a knuckle.^[4]
5. nodul gâtului: the Adam's apple;^[4] nod vital: the respiratory centre in the medulla.^[4]
6. A swelling or nodule caused by disease.^[4]
7. (nautical) A unit of a ship's speed, one nautical mile per hour.^[3][10]
8. (figurative) A feeling of choking from strong emotion: Am simțit un nod în gât.^[4]
9. (figurative) The crux of a problem, the difficulty to be overcome;^[4] nod gordian a Gordian knot.^[4]
10. (slang, dated) The place where a potential victim keeps his money.^[13]

Word family

• noadă
• nodos
• noduros
• noduț
• înnoda
• deznoda

Related words

• Aromanian nod

Usage notes

MDA2 records an old plural nodure beside noduri.^[3] The derivative noadă “coccyx” is explained in several ways: Ciorănescu forms it from nod like neagă beside neg, Candrea–Densusianu and Pascu start from Vulgar Latin *noda, Iordan from nōdus crossed with coadă, and Tiktin from nates (“buttocks”) crossed with cōda.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d 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. nod
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 161
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1, 719
5. ^ Pușcariu, Sextil (1905), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der rumänischen Sprache I: Lateinisches Element, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 103
6. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 778
7. ^ Capidan, Theodor (1935), Meglenoromânii III: Dicționar meglenoromân, București: Academia Română, p. 207
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 5948
9. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
10. ^ a b Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. nod
11. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. nod
12. ^ a b c d e f Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. nod
13. ^ a b Volceanov, George (2007), Dicționar de argou al limbii române, București: Niculescu, p. s.v. nod
14. ^ 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. 448