păun

Forms

păun m (plural păuni, feminine equivalent păuniță)^[1] MDA2 records the older form peun and the regional pehun and peune; Țichindeal's fables have „Peunul au început a-și lăți penele sale” “the peacock began to spread its feathers”.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin pāvō, pāvōnem (“peacock”), continuing the accusative, as Ciorănescu, Pușcariu, the REW, Tiktin, DEX and MDA2 hold.^{[4][5][6][7][8][2][1]} Ciorănescu compares the sound development of tăun.^[4] The word is found south of the Danube as Aromanian pãun, and Ciorănescu also gives Megleno-Romanian păun and Istro-Romanian păun.^[9][4] Its Romance cognates include Italian pavone, French paon, Occitan pau, Spanish pavón and Portuguese pavão.^[4][6]

A Slavic source has been proposed: Old Church Slavonic паѹнъ (paunŭ) (Miklosich), Bulgarian or Serbo-Croatian паун (paun) (Domaschke, Weigand), or the Latin word passed on through Slavic (Candrea).^[4][6] Ciorănescu finds none of these certain, since the Slavic words may themselves come from Romanian, and the REW calls a Bulgarian source unnecessary.^[4][6] Scriban's view was a loan from Modern Greek, with the Romance words as cognates.^[10]

The bird came to Rome from India, and the Latin word is a loan from an Eastern language, like Ancient Greek ταώς (taṓs); its source is unknown.^[11][12][13]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to 1483, in the Slavo-Romanian documents.^[7] The first Romanian text is the Bucharest Bible of 1688, which lists the peacock among the unclean birds that must not be eaten (Deuteronomy 14).^[2][3][14]

Semantic evolution

Besides the bird, the word names a peacock feather and the plume of peacock feathers or flowers that young men wear in their hats, and an embroidery motif in the shape of a peacock.^[2][8] As a figure of pride it gave mândru ca un păun “proud as a peacock” and a se îmbrăca în pene de păun “to dress in peacock's feathers”, to boast of others' merits.^[8][15] In folk poetry the word and its diminutive păunaș are terms of endearment for a handsome young man, and păunașul codrilor “the peacock of the forests” is an epithet of famous outlaws.^[7][2] Ochi de păun “peacock's eye” is a moth of the genus Saturnia.^[7] It is also a common personal name, with the surnames Păunescu and the feminine Păuna.^[16]

Timeline

• 1483 – the first record, in the Slavo-Romanian documents.^[7]
• 1672–1673 – păun in a Slavonic–Romanian lexicon.^[17]
• 1688 – păun among the unclean birds in the Bucharest Bible.^[14][2]
• 1733 – păuni in a calendar.^[3]
• 1814 – peunii in a calendar.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. peacock (Pavo cristatus): a large domestic bird whose male has brilliant blue-green plumage and a very long tail that it can spread like a fan.^[8][2][1]
2. A peacock feather; a plume of such feathers worn on a hat.^[8][2]
3. (figurative) A vain, proud person; a proud young man.^[2]
4. An ornamental motif shaped like a peacock, in embroidery and weaving.^[2]

Word family

• păună
• păunar
• păunaș
• păuniță
• împăuna

Related words

• Aromanian pãun
• Latin pāvō

Usage notes

A fi mândru ca un păun means “to be conceited”, and a se îmbrăca cu pene de păun “to take credit for others' merits”.^[8] The female is păună or păuniță.^[7][4]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 315
3. ^ a b c d Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. păun
4. ^ 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. păun
5. ^ Pușcariu, Sextil (1905), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der rumänischen Sprache I: Lateinisches Element, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 113
6. ^ a b c d Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 6313
7. ^ 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. păun
8. ^ a b c d e f DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 791
9. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 834
10. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 955
11. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
13. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
14. ^ a b Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Deuteronomy 14:17
15. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 3, 366
16. ^ Constantinescu, N. A. (1963), Dicționar onomastic romînesc, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. s.v. păun
17. ^ 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. păun