plointe

Forms

plointe m or f or n (indeclinable)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin plovēns (“raining”), an old form of pluēns, the present participle of pluō (“to rain”).^[2][3][4][1] Candrea and Densusianu explain the vowel /o/ of the Romanian word as kept under the influence of ploaie.^[4] Scriban also derives it from the Latin participle.^[5] Wiktionary gives the Latin origin only as possible.^[1] Ștefan Pașca discussed the word in the journal Dacoromania IX (1936–1938), which the DLR cites.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Ion Ionescu's 1869 survey of the agriculture of Putna County, which uses it as a noun for a time of heavy rain: no one in the county complains of the plointe, he writes, but everyone complains of drought.^[2][3][6]

Semantic evolution

The word is regional, recorded in Oltenia and western Muntenia, among others in the glossary of Muscel.^[3][5][4] As an adjective it means “rainy”, said of a year; used as a noun it means a long spell of heavy rain, and by extension rainy weather.^[2][3] Pamfile recorded it in folk weather lore about which months of the year will bring drought and which rain.^[3] The Romanian linguistic atlas (ALR) has it at several points.^[3]

Timeline

• 1869 – plointe “heavy rain” in Ion Ionescu's survey of Putna County, the first record.^[2][3]
• 1901 – recorded in the glossary of Muscel.^[3][4]
• 1939 – Scriban gives the adjective “rainy” and the noun “rainy weather” as western regional words.^[5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (regional) rainy, wet: an plointe “a rainy year”.^[2][5][1]

Noun

1. (regional, Oltenia) A long spell of heavy, steady rain.^[2][3]
2. (by extension) Rainy weather.^[2][1]

Related words

• ploaie
• ploua

References

1. ^ a b c d e f 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, 425
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. plointe
4. ^ a b c d Candrea, I.-A.; Densusianu, Ov. (1907–1914), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române: elementele latine (A–Putea), București
5. ^ a b c d Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1000
6. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 3, 469