prunc

Forms

prunc m (plural prunci)^[1] In the Moldovan Cyrillic alphabet the word was written прунк.^[1]

Etymology

Its origin is uncertain;^[2] DEX calls it unknown.^[2] The view most dictionaries follow is Pușcariu's: inherited from Vulgar Latin *puerunculus (“little boy”), a diminutive of puer (“boy, child”), from which a shorter *pueruncus was made.^[3][4][5][6] Wiktionary explains the shortening by a Balkan Latin suffix *-unclus, as in genunchi, remade after iuvencus (“bullock”), the source of junc.^[1]

Ciorănescu finds this unconvincing and suggests a Slavic diminutive of Old Church Slavonic прѫтъ (prǫtŭ, “rod, twig”), compare Bulgarian прът (prăt) and Serbo-Croatian prut, with the singular rebuilt from the plural; for the sense he compares mlădiță and vlăstar “shoot; offspring”.^[7][8] Older proposals were Hungarian poronty (“brood”) (Cihac), Latin prīvignus (“stepson”) (Philippide), a Slavic etymon (Conev) and prōventus (“produce, offspring”) (Scriban).^[7][9] The Hungarian word is now held to be a loan from Romanian.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki of the early 16th century: „Săgetele pruncilor fură ranele lor” “the arrows of children were their wounds”.^[5][3] The Codicele Voronețean uses it of a young man brought back alive: „Și aduseră pruncul viu și fu mângâiere nu puțină” “and they brought the boy alive and were not a little comforted” (Acts 20:12).^[3][4]

Semantic evolution

In the old texts prunc is a child of any age or sex, and so it stayed in popular speech; the current sense is a baby in its first months.^[2][3] The 1688 Bible uses it more than seventy times.^[11] From the child as offspring came the senses “son” and, in Transylvania and Maramureș, “boy” and “young man of marrying age”.^[5][12] In the Banat, Crișana and Maramureș it is still the everyday word for a child.^[12][5]

Hungarian borrowed it as poronty, first recorded in 1570 as “bastard; little child”, later also “brood” of birds and frogs.^[10]

Timeline

• c. 1500–1520 – pruncilor in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki, the first record.^[5][13]
• c. 1523 – Tiktin's first dated record.^[4]
• c. 1563–1583 – pruncul in the Codicele Voronețean.^[3]
• 1570 – Hungarian poronty, borrowed from Romanian.^[10]
• 1581 – pruncii in the Palia de la Orăștie.^[3]
• 1688 – the Bucharest Bible uses it throughout.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. A baby, an infant in its first months;^[2][5] (dated, popular) a child of any age or sex: Mama își legăna pruncul.^[2][5]
2. (dated, regional) A child in relation to its parents, a son.^[2][5]
3. (regional, Transylvania, Maramureș) A boy;^[5] prunc tânăr a young man of marrying age.^[5]

Word family

• pruncuț
• pruncușor

Related words

• Hungarian poronty

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 891
3. ^ a b c d e f Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. prunc
4. ^ a b c Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. prunc
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 582
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 6808a
7. ^ 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. prunc
8. ^ Vasmer, Max (1964–1973), Ètimologičeskij slovar' russkogo jazyka, transl. and suppl. by O. N. Trubačev, 4 vols., Moskva: Progress
9. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1070
10. ^ a b c Benkő, Loránd (ed.) (1967–1976), A magyar nyelv történeti-etimológiai szótára, 3 vols., Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, p. 3, 258
11. ^ a b Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Ioel 2:16
12. ^ a b Ștef, Dorin (2021), Dicționar de regionalisme și arhaisme din județul Maramureș, 3rd ed., Baia Mare, p. s.v. prunc
13. ^ 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 16:16