smulge

Forms

smulge (third-person singular present smulge, past participle smuls, third-person subjunctive smulgă), third conjugation^[1] The old and regional participle is smult, with z: „găinile de pene și puii de tuleie au zmult” “plucked the hens of their feathers and the chicks of their down” (Cantemir).^[2][3] The Bucharest Bible of 1688 also has it: „Mi-am zmult părul și den cap și den barbă” “I tore out the hair of my head and of my beard”.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *exmulgō, formed with ex- on Latin mulgeō (“to milk”).^{[4][5][3][6][1][7]} Wiktionary also allows a change of prefix in ēmulgeō (“to milk out”).^[1] The old participle smult continues Vulgar Latin *exmulctus.^[1] Ciorănescu dismisses Crețu's link with a Latin compound of vellō (“to pluck”).^[4]

It survives south of the Danube: Aromanian zmulgu and Megleno-Romanian smulg.^[4][8][9] Romance has Italian smungere (“to drain, to exhaust”) and Asturian esmucir (“to milk”).^[4][10] The simple verb is mulge (“to milk”).^[4][1] Șăineanu took it as a shepherds' word, “to milk hard”.^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Codicele Voronețean (c. 1563–1583).^[5][2]

Semantic evolution

The verb is used first of plants pulled out of the ground and of hair torn out.^[5][6] The Bucharest Bible of 1688 has the disciples begin „a zmulge spice și a mânca” “to pluck ears of grain and eat” (Matthew 12:1).^[2] A-și smulge părul or barba, “to tear one's hair or beard”, shows grief or despair.^[3][5] In old and popular speech it also meant to pluck a bird, and a smulge o pană cuiva was to slap someone.^[5][2]

From pulling something out came the senses to tear something away by force and, figuratively, to obtain something with great effort: a smulge pe cineva din ghearele morții “to snatch someone from the jaws of death”.^[3] The reflexive means to tear oneself away, and slang uses it for “to leave”.^[3][12]

Timeline

• c. 1563–1583 – in the Codicele Voronețean.^[5][2]
• c. 1660 – zmulge in a Slavonic–Romanian lexicon.^[13]
• 1688 – zmulge and zmult in the Bucharest Bible.^[2][14]
• 1705 – the participle zmult in Cantemir's Istoria ieroglifică.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To pull out or wrench away with force, as plants, hair or a stake.^[3][5][1]
2. (regional) To pluck a bird.^[3][5]
3. (figurative) To obtain with great effort, to take by force, to wrest.^[3]
4. (also reflexive) To move away or draw back abruptly, to tear oneself away.^[3]
5. (slang, reflexive) To leave.^[12]

Word family

• smultură
• smuntură

Related words

• smulgere
• smulgător
• smuls
• mulge

Usage notes

The variant zmulge is old.^[4][2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. smulge
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1028
4. ^ a b c d e f 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. smulge
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 919
6. ^ a b Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. smulge
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 2864
8. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1146
9. ^ Capidan, Theodor (1935), Meglenoromânii III: Dicționar meglenoromân, București: Academia Română, p. 269
10. ^ Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli, p. s.v. smungere
11. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 599
12. ^ a b Volceanov, George (2007), Dicționar de argou al limbii române, București: Niculescu, p. s.v. smulge
13. ^ 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. zmulge
14. ^ Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Preoția 13:40