porumb

Forms

porumb m (plural porumbi)^[1] Old and regional variants include porâmb, poromb and părumb.^[2][3] Candrea and Densusianu explain porâmb by the influence of golâmb, the Slavic word for the pigeon.^[4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin palumbus (“wood pigeon”).^{[3][2][5][1][6]} Candrea and Densusianu explain the initial ⟨po-⟩ for expected ⟨pă-⟩ by the unstressed vowel turning to /o/ after the labial.^[4] Wiktionary traces the Latin word to Proto-Indo-European *pal-wo (“dark-coloured, grey”).^[1] The word survives in Aromanian părumbu, and the Romance cognates include Italian palombo, Spanish paloma and Portuguese pombo.^[3][7][8]

The sense “maize” is a Romanian transfer: the cob, with its husks and silk, was compared to a pigeon.^[3][9][1] Rosetti thought it a calque of Bulgarian гълъб (gălăb, “pigeon”), whose plural also names maize;^[3][1] Ciorănescu thinks the opposite more likely, a calque of the Romanian word in Bulgarian, as Tiktin and Mladenov held.^[3][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki, of about 1500–1520: „mi dade arepi ca de porumbi” “he gave me wings like doves” (Psalm 54).^[10][2][11] Tiktin also cites a place name Porumbul from a document of about 1514.^[9]

Semantic evolution

Until the 18th century the word meant the pigeon or dove, as in the psalters and Bibles.^[10][12] The colour of the bird gave an adjective “bluish grey”, used of oxen, horses and birds.^[2][9][5]

Maize was introduced late, about 1680 in Wallachia and about 1690 in Moldavia, and spread quickly, displacing wheat.^[3] The DLR's first quotation for the plant dates from 1794.^[10] Other regions kept other names: păpușoi in Moldavia and cucuruz in Transylvania.^[9] As maize became the main sense, the diminutive porumbel took over the sense “pigeon”.^[1][5]

Timeline

• c. 1500–1520 – porumbi “doves” in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki, the first record.^[2][10]
• c. 1514 – the place name Porumbul.^[9]
• 1649 – porumb in Mardarie's lexicon, glossing Slavonic голубъ “pigeon”.^[13]
• about 1680–1690 – maize reaches Wallachia and then Moldavia.^[3]
• 1794 – first quotation for “maize” in the DLR.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. maize, corn (Zea mays), the tall cereal grass grown for food, fodder and industry.^[5][1]
2. An ear of maize with its grains; the grains themselves.^[5]
3. (plural porumburi) A cornfield.^[5][9]
4. (popular) A pigeon or dove.^[5][2]

Adjective

1. (popular) Bluish grey; of animals and birds, having bluish-grey hair or feathers.^[5][2]

Word family

• porumbă
• porumbac
• porumbel
• porumbărie
• porumbiște
• porumbiță
• porumbrea
• porumbrel

Related words

• porumbar
• știulete
• păpușoi
• cucuruz
• Aromanian părumbu

Usage notes

A lua cuiva porumbul de pe foc “to take someone's maize off the fire” means to thwart his plans.^[5] Synonyms by region: păpușoi (Moldavia), cucuruz (Transylvania).^[9]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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, 477
3. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. porumb
4. ^ a b Candrea, I.-A.; Densusianu, Ov. (1907–1914), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române: elementele latine (A–Putea), București, p. s.v. porumb
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 853
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 6181
7. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 831
8. ^ Pascu, Giorge (1925), Dictionnaire étymologique macédoroumain, 2 vols. (I: Les éléments latins et romans; II: Les éléments grecs, turcs, slaves, albanais, germaniques, magyars, néologismes, créations immédiates, obscurs), Iași: Cultura Națională, p. 1, 140
9. ^ a b c d e f g Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. porumb
10. ^ a b c d e Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. porumb
11. ^ Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Ungureanu, Mădălina; Moruz, Alexandru et al., roPsalt: Re-evaluating the Sixteenth Century Romanian Psalters (aligned corpus), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. Ps 54:6
12. ^ Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Facerea 8:8
13. ^ Ungureanu, Mădălina; Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Moruz, Alexandru (eds.), eRomLex: The First Romanian Bilingual Dictionaries (17th century), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro