rugăciune

Forms

rugăciune f (plural rugăciuni)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin rogātiōnem (“request”), the accusative of a noun formed on rogō (“to ask”).^{[2][3][4][5][1]} Ciorănescu takes it as probably coming straight from Latin, following Pușcariu and the REW;^[6][1] Wiktionary notes that it can also be analysed as ruga with a suffix.^[6][1]

The Megleno-Romanian form is rugăciuni.^[6] Ciorănescu compares Occitan roazó and Old French rovaison.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The oldest form is rugăciunrea in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki (early 16th century), Psalm 54:1.^[7] Coresi's Psalter of 1570 has rugăciunea throughout, as in „Ia aminte glasul rugăciuniei meale” “hearken to the voice of my prayer” (Psalm 5:2).^[8][5] MDA2's first record is the Codicele Voronețean (c. 1563–1583).^[2]

Semantic evolution

In the old language the noun meant both a request made to a person and a prayer to God.^[4][2] The chronicles use it for requests to rulers, and documents of the early 19th century still use it so.^[4] The Lexicon of Buda (1825) gives both senses, and carte de rugăciuni “prayer book”.^[9] Today the sense “request” is rare, and the word means a prayer.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 1500-1520 – rugăciunrea in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki (Psalm 54:1), the first record.^[7]
• c. 1563–1583 – the Codicele Voronețean, MDA2's first record.^[2]
• 1570 – rugăciunea in Coresi's Psalter.^[8]
• 1649 – the word in Mardarie's Slavonic–Romanian lexicon.^[10]
• 1825 – the Lexicon of Buda gives “request” and “prayer”.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. A prayer: a request, thanks or praise addressed by believers to God.^[3][1]
2. (rare) A request, an entreaty; rugăminte.^[3][4]

Related words

• ruga
• rugă
• Megleno-Romanian rugăciuni
• Latin rogātiō

Usage notes

A face rugăciune and a sta la rugăciune mean “to pray”.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 733
3. ^ a b c d DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 966
4. ^ a b c d Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. rugăciune
5. ^ a b Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. rugăciune
6. ^ a b c d 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. ruga
7. ^ a b 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 54:1
8. ^ a b 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 16:1
9. ^ 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. 596
10. ^ 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. rugăciune