oină

oină¹ ball game

Forms

oină f (plural oine)^[1] In Moldavia the word is hoină: „Sunt vreo trei jocuri cu mingea: țicul, hoina și poarca” “there are some three games with the ball: țicul, hoina and poarca”.^[2][3]

Etymology

The word for the ball game is of uncertain origin: DEX and MDA2 call it unknown, and DLR only compares the Turkish word.^[4][5][3] Ciorănescu, after Bogrea, sees it as borrowed from Kipchak oyn (“game”), or else borrowed from Ottoman Turkish اویون (oyun, “game, play”), and Wiktionary gives the same.^[6][1] The Turkic noun comes from Proto-Turkic *oj- (“to play, jump”).^[1] Tiktin also considers Russian война (vojná, “war”) and Polish wojna, if the variant hoină is the older form; the CADE gives the same, and Ciorănescu finds it less likely.^[2][7][6] Pascu named the game beside Aromanian uină “flock of sheep”, which he derived from Latin ovīna.^[8]

From the variant Ciorănescu derives hoinar “vagrant” and hoinări “to roam”.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is in Convorbiri literare of 1875, in a list of ball games: țicul, hoina and poarca.^[2] MDA2 cites the same passage under the year in which the journal began, 1867.^[5]

Semantic evolution

Ciorănescu and the CADE describe it as a ball game between two teams of boys.^[6][7] Gane names it among childhood games beside mijoarca and kites.^[3] In the 20th century it became an organised sport with fixed rules, played by two teams of eleven, with a republican championship reported in 1963.^[4][3] DEX calls it a specifically Romanian sport.^[4]

Timeline

• 1875 – hoina in Convorbiri literare.^[2]
• 1954 – a player of oină famous across the country, in Viața românească.^[3]
• 1963 – a stage of the republican oină championship, in the sports press.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A Romanian ball game between two teams of eleven players, similar to rounders: each player of the batting side hits a small ball with a wooden bat into the field of the catching side, then runs across it and back without being hit by the ball.^[4][1][3]

Word family

• hoinar
• hoinări
• hoinăreală

oină² mutton

Forms

oină f (uncountable)^[1]

Etymology

The word for mutton is from Latin ovīna, in Latin a feminine of ovīnus (“of sheep”) used for sheep's meat, as Ciorănescu, Tiktin, Scriban and the REW give it.^{[9][10][11][12]} DLR and MDA2 see a Romanian formation on oaie after the Latin word.^[3][5] Ciorănescu notes that only Cantemir used it, and compares Aromanian uin “sheep's milk”.^[9] Papahagi records the Aromanian adjective as “of sheep”, from the same Latin adjective.^[13]

Earliest recorded meaning

The only record is in Cantemir's Istoria ieroglifică (1705): „carnea mea în oină să nu o prefacă” “that it might not turn my flesh into mutton”.^[10][3]

Timeline

• 1705 – in Cantemir's Istoria ieroglifică.^[10][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. (obsolete) mutton, sheep's meat.^[5][3][1]