sărut

Forms

sărut n (plural săruturi)^[1]

Etymology

It is a back-formation from Romanian săruta (“to kiss”).^[2][3][4][1] The verb continues Latin salūtō (“to greet”), with intervocalic /l/ becoming /r/, and the noun is thus a doublet of salut, a later borrowing from French.^[4][1] The verb survives south of the Danube: Aromanian sărut.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the noun to 1785, in the sense “kiss”.^[5] MDA2 cites Costache Negruzzi for its first record.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The verb săruta first meant “to greet” as well as “to kiss”, and MDA2 records the noun in the sense “greeting” too.^[4][3] In 19th-century literature the noun is the usual word for a kiss: Negruzzi writes of a kiss drying on the lips and Alecsandri of a burning kiss, sărutul arzător.^[5]

Timeline

• 1785 – sărut “kiss”, the first record.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A kiss: a touch with the lips on someone's lips, cheek or hand, as a sign of love, respect or humility; sărutare.^[2][3][1]
2. A greeting.^[3]

Related words

• săruta
• salut

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 981
3. ^ 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, 779
4. ^ 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. săruta
5. ^ 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. sărut