plaur

Forms

plaur m (plural plauri)^[1]

Etymology

MDA2 and the DLR take it as a singular made from Romanian plavuri (“floating reed islands”), the plural of ⟨plav⟩, and DEX compares the same word.^[2][3][4] DEX takes ⟨plav⟩ from Ukrainian плав (plav) and Russian плав (plav).^[4][2]

Ciorănescu suggests instead Latin pābulum (“fodder, pasture”), comparing Italian pabbio (“fodder plant”), through a form Vulgar Latin *plabulum with an added /l/ as in flacără; he allows a cross with plavie too.^[5] Scriban relates it to the same word, which Ciorănescu finds insufficient, and Șăineanu makes it a singular remade from ⟨plau⟩, of the same origin as ⟨plavie⟩.^[6][5][7] Wiktionary follows Ciorănescu.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is Grigore Antipa's book on Romanian fisheries of 1916, which describes many marshes of the Delta covered with floating reed beds, plaur.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

The word is a term of the Danube Delta: a compact floating mat of reed roots and rhizomes with rotted plants and silt, forming islands that slowly drift.^[2][3] Panțu describes it as a felt of reed rhizomes in whose gaps humus collects, so that other plants grow on it.^[8] By extension it is also used for plavie, a floating mass of branches and weeds.^[2] Galaction, Sadoveanu and Pillat use it in their writing about the Delta, and technical texts describe the reed beds of the plaur as the main reserve of fibrous raw material.^[3]

Timeline

• 1916 – plaur and plav in Antipa's book on fishing.^[2]
• 1929 – Panțu describes the formation in his dictionary of plant names.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A floating mat of aquatic vegetation, mostly reed roots and rhizomes, forming drifting islands, especially in the Danube Delta;^[1] plav, plavie.^[4][2][1]

Related words

• plav
• plavie

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 409
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. plaur
4. ^ a b c DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 829
5. ^ a b 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. plaur
6. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 994
7. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 487
8. ^ a b Panțu, Zach. C. (1929), Plantele cunoscute de poporul român. Vocabular botanic cuprinzând numirile române, franceze, germane și științifice, 2nd ed., București: Editura Casei Școalelor, p. 227