nuia

Forms

nuia f (plural nuiele)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin novella, the neuter plural of novellus (“young, new”), taken as a feminine singular.^{[2][3][4][1][5]} Candrea and Densusianu point to the classical plural novellae “young trees, vine plants”, and Tiktin to the phrase ⟨novella virga⟩ “young twig”.^[6][7] Pușcariu, Philippide and the REW give the same etymon.^[4][8]

Ciorănescu compares Sardinian nuella of the old texts, Logudorese noella “young vine” and Italian novellame “young plants”.^[4] Ungureanu sees the noun in Late Latin texts: the older Latin versions of Psalm 127:3 have „novellum olivarum”, the Vulgate „novellae olivarum”, and the feminine noun recurs in Anthimus and Corippus in the 6th century; he dates the change from neuter to feminine to between 300 and 400.^[9]

The Latin word has a doublet in Romanian: nuvelă “short story”, from French nouvelle.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is in the Psaltirea Scheiană, at Psalm 108:23.^[7] Candrea notes that the translator there wrote nuialele “the rods” where the original has the word for “locust”, taking it for a word meaning “rod”.^[10] The Palia of 1581 has the plain sense: „Iacov iară luo nuiale verzi de măsteacăn, de alun și de castan” “and Jacob took green rods of birch, hazel and chestnut”.^[11][3]

Semantic evolution

The word names a long, thin, pliant switch cut from a young stem or branch of hazel, willow or reed, and, by metonymy, a stroke given with it.^[2][3] DLR's quotations show its use in wattle fences and baskets, gard de nuiele “wattle fence” and coș de nuiele “wicker basket”, and as a switch for punishment: Ghica writes of strokes on the soles of the feet.^[11][7]

MDA2 adds narrower uses: a fishing rod, a hooked stick for catching sheep in the field, the rods of a loom, and in the regions the pole on which maize is hung to dry.^[3] Tiktin and MDA2 record the rare phrase a pleca pe nuia “to leave suddenly, with only the clothes on one's back”.^[7][3] Diminutives are nuielușă, nuielușcă and nuieluță, and an augmentative nuieloaie.^[7][6]

Timeline

• c. 1573-1578 – in the Psaltirea Scheiană, at Psalm 108:23.^[7][10]
• 1581 – nuiale verzi “green rods” in the Palia de la Orăștie.^[11][3]
• 1649 – in Mardarie's Slavonic–Romanian lexicon.^[12]
• 1678 – the diminutive nuielușă in a Slavonic–Romanian lexicon.^[13]
• 1825 – nuieluță in the Lexicon of Buda.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A long, thin, flexible rod or switch cut from a young stem or branch; a vargă.^[2][14][1]
2. A stroke given with such a rod.^[2][4]

Word family

• nuielușă

Related words

• nuvelă
• Latin novella

Usage notes

Gard de nuiele is a wattle fence; in the regions MDA2 also records it for a hedge.^[3][14] The articled form is nuiaua, the genitive nuielei.^[14]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 724
3. ^ a b c d e f g Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 173
4. ^ 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. nuia
5. ^ Gabinschi, Marcu (2001), Dicționar de dublete etimologice ale limbii române, 2nd ed., Chișinău: Litera, p. 133
6. ^ a b c Candrea, I.-A.; Densusianu, Ov. (1907–1914), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române: elementele latine (A–Putea), București, p. s.v. nuia
7. ^ 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. nuia
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 5967
9. ^ Ungureanu, Dan (2024), Istoria limbii române, Chișinău: Cartier, p. 345
10. ^ a b Candrea, I.-A. (1916), Psaltirea Scheiană comparată cu celelalte psaltiri din sec. XVI și XVII traduse din slavonește, vol. II: Glosarele, București: Socec, p. 346
11. ^ a b c Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. nuia
12. ^ 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. nuia
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. nuielușă
14. ^ a b c Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. nuia