spânzura

Forms

spânzura (third-person singular present spânzură, past participle spânzurat, third-person subjunctive spânzure), 1st conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *expendiolō (“to hang”), a derivative of Latin pendeō (“to hang, be suspended”) that the DEX gives as probable and MDA2, the DLR and NODEX accept.^[2][3][4][5] Ciorănescu reviews the proposals: Pușcariu's *pendiō seems difficult to him and Meyer's *pendulō impossible; the form given above, proposed by Pascu, Candrea, Scriban and Tiktin, fits the sounds and matches Italian spenzolare, but he finds it hard to accept for Latin.^[6][1] Șăineanu gave *expendulō.^[7]

It survives south of the Danube: Aromanian aspindzur and Megleno-Romanian spinzur.^[8][9][6] Capidan follows Pușcariu's form for the Megleno-Romanian verb.^[9] The Latin verb is the stative partner of pendō (“to weigh, hang”), which comes from Proto-Indo-European *(s)pend- (“to pull, spin”).^[10][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Codicele Voronețean (c. 1563–1583): „vădzură varvarii spindzurindu șarpele de mâna lui” “the barbarians saw the snake hanging from his hand” (Acts 28:4).^[3][4]

Semantic evolution

The first sense is intransitive, “to hang down”, and the transitive “to hang something up” follows;^[11] Coresi's psalter of 1570 has spînzurăm “we hung”.^[4][11] Hanging as an execution and the reflexive “to hang oneself” are the senses that DEX puts first today.^[2][12] In older and popular use the verb also meant “to depend”: Bălcescu wrote that the fate of the battle hung on one troop.^[7][2] A colloquial sense “to spend money on needless things” is recent.^[13][2]

Derivatives include spânzurat “hanged; rascal” and spânzurătoare “gallows”.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 1563–1583 – spindzurindu “hanging” in the Codicele Voronețean, the first record.^[3][4]
• 1570 – spînzurăm “we hung” in Coresi's psalter.^[11]
• 1660 – spînzura glosses the Slavonic verb “to hang” in a Slavonic–Romanian lexicon.^[14]
• 1688 – spânzurat in the Bucharest Bible.^[15]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) to hang someone, to execute by strangling with a rope;^[2][3][1] (reflexive) to hang oneself.^[2][3][1]
2. (transitive) to hang up, suspend an object by one end so that the rest hangs free;^[2][3][1] (reflexive) to cling to someone or something;^[2][3][1] (intransitive) to hang down: perdeaua spânzură până la podea.^[2][3][1]
3. (dated, popular) a spânzura de: to depend on.^[2][1]
4. (colloquial, figurative) to spend money on things that are not needed: și-a spânzurat salariul pe haine.^[2][13]

Word family

• spânzurare
• spânzurătoare
• spânzurat

Related words

• depinde
• pendulă
• Aromanian aspindzur
• Latin pendeō

Usage notes

A tăia și a spânzura “to cut and hang” is said of someone who abuses power without limit.^[2][3] A spânzura cuiva lingurile la brâu “to hang someone's spoons at his belt” means to give no food to someone who comes late to the table.^[2][3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1038
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 947
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. spânzura
5. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. spânzura
6. ^ a b c 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. spânzura
7. ^ a b Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 1, 606
8. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 168
9. ^ a b Capidan, Theodor (1935), Meglenoromânii III: Dicționar meglenoromân, București: Academia Română, p. 272
10. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
11. ^ a b c 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 136:2
12. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 4, 197
13. ^ a b Dimitrescu, Florica (1997), Dicționar de cuvinte recente, 2nd ed., București: Logos (with the 3rd ed., 2013, in CLRE), p. s.v. spânzura
14. ^ 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. spînzura
15. ^ Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Genesis 40:22