nuc

Forms

nuc m (plural nuci)^[1]

Etymology

Ciorănescu, Tiktin and Wiktionary have it inherited from Latin nux (“nut”).^[2][3][1] Ciorănescu cites Pușcariu, Candrea–Densusianu and the REW.^[2][4] In the Romance languages the Latin word names the fruit: Italian noce, Occitan notz, French noix, Catalan nou, Spanish nuez, Portuguese noz.^[2] Romanian, as with măr, păr and prun, made the masculine the tree and the feminine nucă the fruit.^[2][3] Tiktin explains the split as a Latin *nucus beside *nuca, on the model of pirus and pira.^[3] DEX, MDA2 and the DLR instead treat the tree name as a back-formation from the fruit name.^[5][6][7]

It survives in all four branches: Aromanian nuc, Megleno-Romanian nucă and Istro-Romanian nuc.^[2][8][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to 1548, from a document collection (DIR).^[3] MDA2's first Romanian record is the Slavonic–Romanian lexicon Lex.St. of about 1660–1670.^[6][10]

Semantic evolution

The word has always meant the walnut tree (Juglans regia); a deed of 1686 sells a vineyard “with walnut and cherry trees in it”.^[7] The 17th-century lexicons use nucul to gloss Old Church Slavonic ѡрѣхъ (orěxŭ, “nut”).^[11] In modern Romanian it also names the tree's wood, prized for furniture, and nuc american or nuc negru is the North American black walnut.^[5][6]

Timeline

• 1548 – the first record, in a document.^[3]
• c. 1660–1670 – in the Slavonic–Romanian lexicon Lex.St.^[6][10]
• 1686 – a vineyard sold “with walnut and cherry trees”.^[7]
• 1688 – nuc in the Bucharest Bible (Genesis 30:37, Jeremiah 1:11).^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. the walnut tree (Juglans regia), a fruit tree from Asia with pinnate, strongly scented leaves, edible nuts and fine timber.^[5][1]
2. walnut wood, used for furniture.^[5]

Word family

• nucar
• nucet
• nucșoară

Related words

• Aromanian nuc
• Latin nux

Usage notes

Nuc american or nuc negru is the American black walnut.^[6]

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. nuc
3. ^ 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. nuc
4. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 6009
5. ^ a b c d DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 723
6. ^ 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, 172
7. ^ a b c Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. nuc
8. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 787
9. ^ Kovačec, August (1998), Istrorumunjsko-hrvatski rječnik (s gramatikom i tekstovima), Pula, p. s.v. nuc
10. ^ 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. nuc
11. ^ 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. nucul
12. ^ Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Gn 30:37