pomet

pomet¹ orchard

Forms

pomet n (plural pometuri)^[1] Moldavian texts have pomăt, plural pomături, in Neculce and Varlaam.^[2] Cantemir writes it so: „Tot fealiul de pomăt roditoriu” “every kind of fruit-bearing orchard”.^[3] An old plural pomeți appears in Amfilohie: „pomeții, viile, țarinile și câmpii” “the orchards, the vineyards, the fields and the plains”.^[3][4]

Etymology

The word for the orchard is inherited from Latin pōmētum (“orchard”), according to DEX, NODEX, MDA2 and the DLR.^[5][6][4][3] Ciorănescu lists it among the derivatives of pom and says it may continue the Latin word directly, as Pușcariu, Candrea–Densusianu and the REW hold.^[7][8] Candrea–Densusianu add that its vowels were reshaped after the word for a fruit tree.^[9] Tiktin disagrees: he forms it from poamă, because the Latin word would have given ⟨ă⟩, not ⟨e⟩, in the suffix.^[2] Scriban leaves both options open.^[10]

The Latin word is formed from pōmus (“fruit tree”) with the suffix -ētum (“grove”).^[1][11] It survives as Aromanian pumet “orchard”.^[12] The Romance cognate is Italian pometo, first recorded in 1564.^[8][13]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to 1585, with the sense “orchard”.^[2] MDA2 gives Moxa's chronicle of 1620, where a stream flows through the middle of paradise and waters its orchards.^[4][3]

Semantic evolution

From the orchard itself the word passed to the trees standing in it, used in the singular as a collective.^[5][4] In Oltenia it also names fruit growing as an occupation.^[4] The 17th-century Slavonic–Romanian lexicons use it to render Slavonic words for an orchard or garden.^[14] In the 19th century the dictionaries gloss it with Latin pometum and pomarium, German Obstgarten and French verger.^[15][16]

Timeline

• 1585 – the first record Tiktin gives.^[2]
• 1620 – the orchards of paradise in Moxa's chronicle.^[4][3]
• before 1632 – un pomăt încuiat “a closed orchard”.^[3]
• 1649 – Mardarie's lexicon, glossing a Slavonic word for an orchard.^[14]
• 1708 – an estate sold “with a place for beehives and an orchard” (cu loc de prisacă și cu pomăt).^[3]
• 1825 – the Lexicon de la Buda, as Pometu.^[15]
• 1870 – Costinescu: a garden planted with fruit trees.^[16]

Meanings

Noun

1. An orchard: a garden or piece of land planted with fruit trees.^[5][6][1]
2. (collective, in the singular) The fruit trees of an orchard taken together.^[5][4]
3. (regional, Oltenia) Fruit growing, pomiculture.^[4]

pomet² fruit, collectively

Etymology tree of pomet²

inherited borrowed derived

Romanian poamă

Romanian pomet

From the same root · pomet²

Romanian pomar ← poamă

Forms

pomet n (plural pometuri)^[1]

Etymology

The word for fruit taken collectively is formed from Romanian poamă + -et.^[5][4][3] Scriban also derives it from the word for fruit, and keeps it apart from the word for the orchard.^[10] That noun continues Latin pōma, the plural of pōmum (“fruit”), which was taken for a feminine singular.^[17]

Earliest recorded meaning

MDA2's first record is the Moldavian Pravila of Vasile Lupu's time, which speaks of a share kept „până când să va împlea vreamea pomătului” “until the fruit season comes round”.^[4][3]

Semantic evolution

The word means a large quantity of fruit, then the many kinds of fruit, and also a fruit crop.^[4][5] The plural pometuri is common for fruit served or sold, as in Pann's list of fruits, sweets and other foods.^[2][3] Scriban notes that it is used both for a great amount and for many sorts.^[10]

Timeline

• 17th century – vreamea pomătului in the Pravila of Vasile Lupu's time.^[4][3]
• 1799 – a document requires a tithe to be given din pometuri “from the fruit”.^[3]
• 1893 – Damé: all the fruit together.^[3]
• 1939 – Scriban separates the two words.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. (in the plural, or collective in the singular) A large quantity of fruit.^[5][4][18]
2. Many varieties of fruit.^[5][4]
3. A fruit crop or harvest.^[4]