prânz

Forms

prânz n (plural prânzuri)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin prandium (“late breakfast, luncheon”).^{[2][3][4][1][5][6]} Aromanian keeps the noun as prãndzu.^[2][7][8] Its Romance cognates include Dalmatian prinz, Italian pranzo and Sardinian prandzu.^[2][6][1]

De Vaan and the OLD analyse the Latin noun as Proto-Italic *prāmo- (“first”) with the root of edō (“to eat”), so that it first meant the “first meal”.^[9][10][1]

The verb prânzi continues prandeō (“to have lunch”) with a change of conjugation, and Aromanian has a verb of the same origin.^[2][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

MDA2 dates the first record to Coresi's Carte de învățătură of 1581.^[4] There the word means a dinner or feast: „Când faci prânz sau cină, nu chema […] rudele tale” “When you give a dinner or a supper, do not invite your kinsmen”.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The word names the main meal of the day, taken about noon, and also a feast or banquet.^[4][3] In the countryside the day was divided by two meals: prânzul (cel) mic, the first meal of peasants working in the fields in summer, and prânzul (cel) mare, the midday meal.^[11][4] From the meal came the time of day: până-n prânz “in the morning”, după prânz “in the afternoon”, and Aromanian tu prândzu “in the south”.^[5][4] Regionally prânz is also the memorial meal given for the dead three, nine or forty days after the burial.^[4][3]

Scriban quotes an older form aprînz from the chronicler Nicolae Costin.^[12] The diminutive prânzișor means “breakfast”, and in the Banat the alms given nine days after a death.^[2]

Timeline

• 1581 – prânz “dinner, feast” in Coresi's Carte de învățătură, the first record.^[4][3]
• c. 1633 – „prânzul tău” “your feast” in a text quoted by the DLR.^[3]
• c. 1660 – glosses a Slavonic word for “dinner” in a Slavonic–Romanian lexicon.^[13]
• 1688 – in the Bucharest Bible (Luke 14:12).^[14]
• 1825 – prânzu “midday meal” in the Lexicon de la Buda.^[15]

Meanings

Noun

1. lunch: the main meal, taken about midday: Ne vedem la prânz. “See you at lunch.”^[11][1][4]
2. The time when this meal is taken; noon, midday.^[11][1][4]
3. The food eaten at this meal.^[11][4]
4. (popular) Prânzul (cel) mic: the first meal of peasants working in the fields in summer;^[11] prânzul (cel) mare: their midday meal.^[11]
5. (regional) A memorial meal given for the dead some days after the burial.^[4][3]

Word family

• prânzișor

Related words

• prânzi
• Aromanian prãndzu
• Latin prandium

Usage notes

Înainte de prânz means “before noon”, and după-prânz “afternoon”.^[11]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. prînz
3. ^ a b c d e f g Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. prînz
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 505
5. ^ a b Pușcariu, Sextil (1905), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der rumänischen Sprache I: Lateinisches Element, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 122
6. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 6730
7. ^ a b Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 882
8. ^ Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net), p. 849
9. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
10. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ a b c d e f g DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 861
12. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1055
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, p. s.v. prînz
14. ^ Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Lc 14:12
15. ^ Lesicon românescu-latinescu-ungurescu-nemțescu quare de mai mulți autori, în cursul a trideci și mai multor ani s-au lucrat (1825), Buda: Typographia Universității (the Lexicon of Buda, ed. Petru Maior et al.), p. 533