osânză

Forms

osânză f (plural osânze)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin axungia (“axle grease; hog's fat”), a Latin compound of axis (“axle”) and unguō (“to smear”).^[2][3][4][1] DLR and MDA2 give the Latin variants absungia and ausungia, DEX only the first.^[5][6][7] The Latin word meant axle grease and, generally, hog's fat used in medicine.^[8]

It survives south of the Danube: Aromanian usãndzã.^[2][9][10] Its Romance cognates include Italian sugna, Sardinian assundza (Logudorese) and Old French soignie (“candle”), while French axonge and Spanish enjundia are learned forms.^[4][2]

The initial ⟨o-⟩ has been explained in several ways: through Vulgar Latin *oxungia (Pușcariu, Candrea–Densusianu), through the attested variant auxungia (Graur), through a crossing with Ancient Greek ὀξύς (oxús, “sharp”) (Skok), or through a Greek derivative of that adjective (Diculescu).^[2][11] Ciorănescu objects that an unstressed ⟨o⟩ cannot be old in Romanian, and prefers a loss of the initial syllable, as in the Italian word, with a later ⟨o-⟩ added at the start.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Latin–Romanian glossary known as the Anonymus Caransebesiensis, of the second half of the 17th century, with the sense “pig fat”.^[6][11]

Semantic evolution

The word names the raw fat of the pig's belly, which is kept unmelted, unlike untură.^[7][2] Folk medicine used it on wounds, and it greased boots and hair.^[5] By extension it came to mean fat on the human body, as in Sadoveanu's “short and drowned in fat”.^[5][7]

From the image of the well-fed man the word took the figurative sense of wealth: a avea osânză (la pântece) is “to be well off”, and om cu osânză a man of means.^[6][12] An old sense “fish oil” is recorded too.^[6][13]

Timeline

• c. 1650–1700 – osânză in the Anonymus Caransebesiensis glossary.^[6]
• 1905 – Pușcariu derives it from a Vulgar Latin *oxungia.^[2]
• 1931 – om cu osânză “a wealthy man” in CADE.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. (popular) Raw pig fat from the belly; lard before melting.^[7][6][1]
2. (by extension) Fat laid down on the human body: Și-a pus osânză pe ceafă.^[7][6]
3. (figurative) Material well-being, wealth.^[7][1]
4. (dated) Fish oil.^[6][13]

Related words

• Aromanian usãndzã
• Latin axungia

Usage notes

MDA2 records the old variant osânță and the regional asânză and osâmză.^[6]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g 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. osînză
3. ^ Pușcariu, Sextil (1905), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der rumänischen Sprache I: Lateinisches Element, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. s.v. osînză
4. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 846
5. ^ a b c Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. osînză
6. ^ 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, 230
7. ^ a b c d e f DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1, 754
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. axungia
9. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1094
10. ^ Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net), p. 1069
11. ^ a b Candrea, I.-A.; Densusianu, Ov. (1907–1914), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române: elementele latine (A–Putea), București, p. s.v. osînză
12. ^ a b Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. osînză
13. ^ a b Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. osânză