oua

Forms

a oua (third-person singular present ouă, past participle ouat), first conjugation^[1] MDA2 gives the regional third persons ouăză and oiază beside ouă.^[2] The old third person was oao: „deca oao” “when it lays” in the Învățăturile lui Neagoe Basarab.^[3]

Etymology

It is probably inherited from Vulgar Latin *ōvō (“to lay eggs”), a verb formed in Latin on ōvum (“egg”).^[4][3][5][1] Ciorănescu, following Pușcariu and Graur, takes it probably directly from the Latin verb, not from the Romanian noun.^[4] It survives south of the Danube as Aromanian oauă or uare and Megleno-Romanian uari.^[4][5] Candrea and Densusianu compare Occitan ovar, Spanish huevar and Portuguese ovar, which the REW also lists.^[5][6]

DEX, MDA2 and the DLR derive it instead from ou with the verb ending -a, and Wiktionary gives both explanations.^[7][2][8][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to 1654, in the Învățăturile lui Neagoe Basarab, where a bird lays eggs but does not sit on them: „deca oao … el nu zace pre oao”.^[3][8] The sense has stayed the same since.^[7]

Semantic evolution

The verb is used intransitively, reflexively (găina s-a ouat “the hen has laid”) and transitively with the eggs as object.^[7][3] It is said of birds and also of insects.^[7] Folk speech built sayings on it: a-i oua găina în căciulă “the hen lays in one's cap”, to be very lucky, and lung de-ți ouă găina în traistă, of a very long road.^[2] A proverb recorded by Pann warns that the hen that sings in the evening does not lay in the morning.^[3]

Timeline

• 1654 – oao “it lays” in the Învățăturile lui Neagoe Basarab.^[3]
• 1799 – ouă in the Alexandria, where an eagle lays an egg in Philip's lap.^[8]

Meanings

Verb

1. Of birds and insects: to lay eggs; used intransitively, reflexively and transitively;^[7][2][1] Găinile ouă mai rar iarna.^[7][2][1]

Word family

• ouătoare

Related words

• ou
• Aromanian oauă

Usage notes

MDA2 records the expressions a-i oua găina în căciulă “to be very lucky” and lung de-ți ouă găina în traistă “very long”.^[2] The verb is not a form of ou “egg”, though its third person ouă is spelled like that noun's plural.^[7]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 239
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. oua
4. ^ 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. ou
5. ^ a b c Candrea, I.-A.; Densusianu, Ov. (1907–1914), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române: elementele latine (A–Putea), București
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 6128
7. ^ a b c d e f g DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 758
8. ^ a b c Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. oua