roura

Forms

roura (third-person singular present rourează, past participle rourat) 1st conjugation^[1] Old and regional forms are răura, răora, roora, ruora and ruăra; a prayer book of 1689 has „pămăntului ploaie răorează” “he lets rain fall on the earth”.^[2][3] It is pronounced in three syllables, ro-u-ra, and popularly in two.^[4][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin rōrō (“to drip with dew”), from rōs (“dew”).^[4][1][5][3] DEX says the verb was remade after rouă, and Tiktin explains the split of the stem vowel as in that noun; the old (în)roa is a new formation on the noun.^[4][2] The Latin verb also continues in Italian and Spanish forms recorded by the REW.^[5] Wiktionary gives Aromanian arãuredz, formed either on the noun for “dew” or on the Latin verb.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to a Ceaslov of 1640;^[1] MDA2 cites Dosoftei's Viața și petrecerea sfinților (1682–1686), where an angel is seen bedewing a saint and cooling the flame of the torches.^[2][3][6]

Semantic evolution

In the old language the verb meant to moisten, sprinkle or let drip, and figuratively to refresh or calm; it was also used of a light rain.^[3][2] In the 19th century writers such as Negruzzi and Odobescu used it of tears, sweat and blood: Odobescu wrote of thoughts that make a tear moisten an eyelash.^[6][2] The intransitive “dew falls” is the main sense in the modern dictionaries.^[4]

Timeline

• 1640 – the verb in a Ceaslov.^[2]
• 1682-1686 – rourându-o in Dosoftei's lives of the saints.^[3][6]
• 1689 – răorează in a prayer book.^[2]
• 1801 – the intransitive “dew falls” in Klein's dictionary.^[6]

Meanings

Verb

1. (intransitive, impersonal) Of rouă: to fall; to form dew.^[4][1]
2. (transitive and reflexive) To moisten, to cover with drops as of dew: Lacrimile i-au rourat obrajii.^[4][3]

Related words

• rouă
• Latin rōs

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. roura
3. ^ 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, 730
4. ^ a b c d e f DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 964
5. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 7373a
6. ^ a b c d Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. roura