orz

Forms

orz n (plural orzuri)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin hordeum (“barley”).^{[2][3][4][5][1][6]} It survives in all four branches: Aromanian ordzu, Megleno-Romanian uorz and Istro-Romanian orz.^[2][7][8][9] Its Romance cognates include Dalmatian vuarz, Italian orzo, Sardinian ordzu, French orge, and Occitan ordi and Catalan ordi.^[10][2]

Wiktionary traces the Latin word to Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰr̥sdeyom (“bristly”), after the long awns of the ear.^[1] De Vaan finds the cognates in Greek, Albanian and Germanic hard to unite in one preform, and suggests that the Indo-European dialects may have borrowed the name of the grain.^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to a document of 1497.^[3] MDA2's first record is the Romanian translation of Herodotus of 1645.^[4] The Bible of 1688 has it in Exodus: „Inul și orzul s-au stricat” “the flax and the barley were ruined”.^[3][12]

Semantic evolution

The word names the plant and its grain, used above all as fodder for horses.^[5][13] Its two plurals have different senses: orzuri “kinds of barley” and oarze “barley fields”.^[3][5] Folk botany names many related grasses after it, such as orzul-șoarecilor “mouse barley”.^[4]

The expression a strica orzul pe gâște “to waste barley on the geese” means to give good things to someone who cannot value them.^[5][3] In Muntenia orz pe vatră “barley on the hearth” was a New Year's Eve gathering of girls.^[14]

Timeline

• 1497 – the first record, in a document.^[3]
• 1645 – orz in the Romanian translation of Herodotus.^[4]
• c. 1660–1670 – a Slavonic–Romanian lexicon records orz.^[15]
• 1688 – orzul and the plural oarze in the Bucharest Bible.^[12]
• 1825 – the Lexicon de la Buda gives orzu with Latin hordeum.^[16]

Meanings

Noun

1. barley: the cereal grass of the genus Hordeum, grown as fodder and for industry; a plant of this genus.^[5][1]
2. The grain of this plant, used as animal feed, in brewing and as food.^[5]
3. A species or kind of barley (plural orzuri).^[5]
4. A barley field (plural oarze).^[5][1]

Word family

• orzar
• orzărie
• orzișor
• orzoaică

Related words

• Aromanian ordzu
• Latin hordeum

Usage notes

In the sense of the plant the word is masculine; the plurals orzuri and oarze are neuter.^[5]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c 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. orz
3. ^ 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. orz
4. ^ a b c d Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 229
5. ^ 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. 754
6. ^ Pușcariu, Sextil (1905), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der rumänischen Sprache I: Lateinisches Element, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 107
7. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 808
8. ^ Capidan, Theodor (1935), Meglenoromânii III: Dicționar meglenoromân, București: Academia Română, p. 316
9. ^ Kovačec, August (1998), Istrorumunjsko-hrvatski rječnik (s gramatikom i tekstovima), Pula
10. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 4180
11. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
12. ^ a b Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Ex 9:31
13. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 913
14. ^ Marin, Maria; Mărgărit, Iulia, Glosar dialectal. Muntenia, București: Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti”, p. 295
15. ^ 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. orz
16. ^ 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. 471