nume

Forms

nume n (plural nume)^[1] The plural is usually nume;^[2] MDA2 also records a regional plural numuri and the variants număr (plural numere), nome, numi, numen and regional lume.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin nōmen (“name”), a word kept in nearly every Romance language.^[3][2][4][1] The Latin word comes from Proto-Indo-European *h₁nómn̥ (“name”).^[1]

The word survives in all four branches: Aromanian numă, Megleno-Romanian numi and Istro-Romanian lume.^[3][5][6] The Istro-Romanian form has an initial /l/ by dissimilation.^[7] Its Romance cognates include Italian nome, Portuguese nome, French nom, Catalan nom and Spanish nombre.^[3]

The /u/ of the Romanian word does not follow regularly from Latin /oː/, and the word continues the Latin nominative, as in some other Romance languages.^[3] Tiktin and Wiktionary explain the /u/ by the influence of număr “number”, from numerus.^[8][1] Ciorănescu thinks rather of a confusion already in Latin between the Latin words for “name” and nūmen (“divine will”), which he sees in the phrase “in the name of good”, meaning “under good auspices”.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The genitive-articled form numele “the name” is frequent in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki of the early 16th century, and in all the later 16th-century psalters.^[9] MDA2 gives the Codicele Voronețean (c. 1563–1583) as its first record, and Tiktin likewise dates the word to the 16th century from that text.^[2][8] The DLR quotes that passage with the old plural numere, in the sense “names”.^[10]

Semantic evolution

From “the word by which a person or thing is called” the noun came to mean “fame, reputation”, as in om cu nume “a man of renown”.^[3][4] Aromanian numă has the same range, and also “nickname”.^[5] Many set phrases grew around it: nume de botez “Christian name”, nume de familie “surname”, ziua numelui “name day” and în numele… “in the name of…, on behalf of…”.^[4][2]

In grammar nume came to mean “noun”, as in nume propriu “proper noun”, a sense the DLR compares with the same use of Latin nōmen, Italian nome and French nom.^[10] Romanian derived the verb numi “to name, to appoint” and the adverb anume “namely; on purpose” from it; denumi and supranume were modelled on French dénommer and surnom.^[3]

Timeline

• early 16th century – numele “the name” in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki.^[9]
• c. 1563–1583 – numere “names” in the Codicele Voronețean, MDA2's first record.^[2][10]
• 1570 – nume in Coresi's psalter.^[11]
• 1688 – the Bucharest Bible uses the word throughout.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. A name: the word or words by which a person, thing, action or idea is called and told apart from others.^[4][1]
2. nume de botez or nume mic “first name”;^[4][2] nume de familie “surname”;^[4][2] ziua numelui “name day”.^[4][2]
3. fame, reputation: a-și face un nume “to make a name for oneself”.^[3][4]
4. (grammar) A noun: nume propriu “proper noun”.^[10]
5. în numele (+ genitive): on behalf of; invoking the authority of.^[4]

Word family

• numi
• numire
• numitor
• anume
• anumit
• denumi
• supranume

Related words

• număr
• pronume
• Aromanian numă
• Latin nōmen

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 175
3. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. nume
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 725
5. ^ a b Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne
6. ^ Capidan, Theodor (1935), Meglenoromânii III: Dicționar meglenoromân, București: Academia Română, p. 209
7. ^ Popovici, Iosif (1909), Dialectele romîne din Istria II: texte și glosar, Halle a. S., p. 121
8. ^ a b Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. nume
9. ^ a b Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Ungureanu, Mădălina; Moruz, Alexandru et al., roPsalt: Re-evaluating the Sixteenth Century Romanian Psalters (aligned corpus), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. Ps 5:14
10. ^ a b c d Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. nume
11. ^ Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Ungureanu, Mădălina; Moruz, Alexandru et al., roPsalt: Re-evaluating the Sixteenth Century Romanian Psalters (aligned corpus), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. Ps 137:3
12. ^ Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. s.v. nume