rândunea

Forms

rândunea f (plural rândunele)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *hirundinella, a diminutive of Latin hirundō (“swallow”).^[2][1][3][4] The same diminutive gave Italian rondinella, and French hirondelle is formed alike.^[2][4] Candrea and Densusianu start from an older form, which they think took its present shape under the influence of rândurea.^[5] Candrea and Pușcariu proposed Vulgar Latin *harundula instead, but Ciorănescu finds it unnecessary.^[2]

South of the Danube the word survives as Aromanian alãndurã, also arândură and lindurușe.^[2][1] De Vaan finds the origin of the Latin word unclear: an imitative formation has been proposed, and a link with harundō (“reed”), after the bird's forked tail.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Klein's dictionary of 1801 has it as Raendunea, glossed with Latin hirundo.^[7] The form rândunică is recorded much earlier: Tiktin dates it to 1645, MDA2 to 1661.^[8][9] A folk verse quoted by Tiktin has un pui de rândunea “a young swallow”.^[8]

Semantic evolution

In current use the word is a mixed paradigm: the singular rândunică is ousting rândunea, while the plural stays rândunele.^[2] Scriban marks rândunea as western and rândunică as eastern, and also records the name for a sea fish with red fins.^[4] The Lexicon de la Buda of 1825 gives the proverb o rândunea nu face primăvară “one swallow does not make a spring”, beside the Latin, Italian and French ones, and names the sand martin rândunea de apă and the swift rândunea de munte.^[10]

Timeline

• 1645 – the form rândunică, the first record of the word family.^[8]
• 1661 – rândunică in a text quoted by Gaster.^[9]
• 1801 – Raendunea in Klein's dictionary.^[7]
• 1825 – rândunea with the proverb o rândunea nu face primăvară in the Lexicon de la Buda.^[10]
• 1939 – Scriban marks the form as western.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. (regional) The swallow, especially the barn swallow (Hirundo rustica); the same as rândunică.^[3][1][11]
2. A sea fish with long red pectoral fins, the tub gurnard (Trigla hirundo).^[4]

Related words

• rândunică
• Aromanian alãndurã
• Latin hirundō

References

1. ^ a b c d 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. rândunea
3. ^ a b DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 923
4. ^ a b c d e Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1131
5. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Densusianu, Ov. (1907–1914), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române: elementele latine (A–Putea), București, p. s.v. rîndunea
6. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill, p. s.v. hirundō
7. ^ a b Gáldi, László (ed.) (1944), Samuel Klein: Dictionarium valachico-latinum. Primul dicționar al limbii române, Budapest: Királyi Magyar Pázmány Péter Tudományegyetemi Román Intézet (Klein's dictionary of 1801, with Gáldi's etymological study), p. 429
8. ^ 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. rândunică
9. ^ a b Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 658
10. ^ a b 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. 598
11. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. rândunea