plămân

Forms

plămân m (plural plămâni)^[1] The old and Moldavian feminine plămână is in Dosoftei's metrical psalter: „Cându-l strânge setea de-l arde-n plămână” “when thirst grips him and burns him in the lung” (Psalm 41:2).^[2] MDA2 lists many variants, among them plumână, plumân, plămâi and plomână.^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin pulmōnem (“lung”), through a form with metathesis, *plumonem.^[4][3][5][1] The same metathesis is found in Sicilian primuni and in other southern Italian dialects.^[4][6] The word survives in Aromanian pãlmunã and Istro-Romanian plumăre; the change of /n/ to /r/ in Istro-Romanian shows that the word is inherited.^[4][7] Its Romance cognates include Italian polmone and French poumon.^[4][6]

DEX and NODEX give another source, Modern Greek πλεμόνι (plemóni).^[8][9] Ciorănescu finds a Greek origin less likely, and Tiktin takes only the Aromanian forms from Greek.^[4][2] The Greek word is a medieval diminutive of Ancient Greek πλεύμων (pleúmōn).^[10]

De Vaan discusses two explanations of the Latin word: a loan with metathesis from the Greek word, or an inherited adjective “the floating one”, since the lungs float on water.^[11] Wiktionary takes it from Proto-Indo-European *pléwmō.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is a text of about 1600 published in Hasdeu's Cuvente den bătrîni, and MDA2 cites the same page.^[2][3] The sense was “lung”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The word names each of the two lungs, and often both together.^[2][8] Nicolae Costin writes of the white lungs burnt by thirst, „plămânele arse de sete”, and the old phrase plămâni albe “white lungs” stood against plămâni negre “black lungs”, the liver.^[12][3] In the popular language plămâni also means tuberculosis, and regionally the word is a name for a weak, sickly person.^[3]

Several plants bear the name, among them the white and the yellow water lily and the lungwort.^[3][2] Plămân de oțel “iron lung” names the apparatus for artificial respiration.^[8] In jocular slang the plural can mean a woman's breasts.^[13]

Timeline

• c. 1600 – in a text published in Hasdeu's Cuvente den bătrîni.^[2][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. lung: each of the two spongy organs in the chest, surrounded by the pleura, with which humans and higher vertebrates breathe; also pulmon and the popular bojoc.^[8][3][1]
2. Plămân de oțel: an iron lung, an apparatus for artificial respiration.^[8][3]
3. (popular, in the plural) Tuberculosis of the lungs.^[3]
4. (regional) A weak, puny or lazy man.^[3]
5. (botany, popular) The white and the yellow water lily.^[3][2]

Related words

• pulmon
• Aromanian pãlmunã
• Latin pulmo

Usage notes

In Moldavia the plural is usually plămâi.^[12][2]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. plămân
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 411
4. ^ a b c d e 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. plămân
5. ^ Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. plămân
6. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 6833
7. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 824
8. ^ a b c d e DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 830
9. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. plămân
10. ^ Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας, p. 1174
11. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill, p. s.v. pulmō
12. ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 994
13. ^ Volceanov, George (2007), Dicționar de argou al limbii române, București: Niculescu, p. s.v. plămân