sânge

Forms

sânge n (plural sângiuri)^[1] The spelling sînge was standard from 1953 to 1993.^[1] The plural sângiuri is old and popular, used for “murders, bloodshed”: omul sângiurilor “the man of blood, a tyrant”.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *sanguem, a Vulgar Latin remaking of the accusative sanguinem of Latin sanguis (“blood”).^[4][1][2] De Vaan traces the first part of the Latin word to the oblique stem Proto-Indo-European *h₁sh₂-én- of *h₁ésh₂r̥ (“blood”), but the rest of the word is uncertain.^[5][1]

The word survives in all four branches: Aromanian sãndze, Megleno-Romanian sǫndz and Istro-Romanian sănje.^[4][6][7] Its Romance cognates include Italian sangue, French sang, Catalan sang, Spanish sangre and Portuguese sangue.^[4][8] The verb sângera “to bleed” continues sanguinō (“to bleed”).^[4][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki of the early 16th century.^[2] The DLR quotes it in the literal sense, in a verse about washing one's hands în sângele greșitului “in the blood of the sinner”.^[10]

Semantic evolution

The literal sense runs through the old texts: Coresi's Evanghelie tells of dipping in the blood of a slaughtered hen, and a text of 1640 forbids taking the blood of a slaughtered animal.^[10] Figurative senses are descent and family, breed, and life itself.^[11][3] The old plural sângiuri meant “murders, crimes”.^[11] Popular speech calls a disease of cattle sânge, and red wine the sângele Domnului “the Lord's blood”.^[11][2]

Derivatives include sângeros “bloody, cruel”, sângeriu “blood-red” and sângerete “blood sausage”.^[4] The adjective sângerând is a literary formation after French sanglant, and sanguin is a loan from French.^[4]

Timeline

• early 16th century – sângele in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki, the first record.^[2][12]
• 1570 – sânge in Coresi's psalter.^[13]
• 1640 – sânge of a slaughtered animal in a document.^[10]
• 1825 – the Lexicon de la Buda glosses it “blood” and “kinship by blood” and derives it from Latin sanguis.^[14]

Meanings

Noun

1. blood: the red liquid of plasma and cells that circulates through the veins and arteries;^[11][1] frate de sânge “full brother”;^[11][1] cu sânge rece “in cold blood”.^[11][1]
2. (figurative) origin, descent; family, kin; offspring.^[11][1]
3. (figurative) breed, race (of animals).^[11][1]
4. In compounds, plants and resins: sânge-de-nouă-frați “dragon's blood”.^[11]
5. (dated, in the plural sângiuri) Murders, crimes.^[11][1]
6. (popular) A disease of cattle that makes them bleed.^[11]

Word family

• sângeros
• sângeriu
• sângerete

Related words

• sângera
• sânger
• sanguin
• Aromanian sãndze
• Latin sanguis

Usage notes

Old texts sometimes treat the word as masculine.^[2][4] Common phrases are a-și face sânge rău “to fret”, a-i îngheța sângele în vine “to have one's blood run cold” and de sânge albastru “blue-blooded”.^[11]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 783
3. ^ a b Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 1, 563
4. ^ a b c d e f g 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. sânge
5. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
6. ^ Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net), p. 896
7. ^ Popovici, Iosif (1909), Dialectele romîne din Istria II: texte și glosar, Halle a. S., p. 147
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 7574
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 7571
10. ^ a b c Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. sânge
11. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 982
12. ^ 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 9:12
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 15:4
14. ^ 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. 607