spuma

Forms

spuma (third-person singular present spumează, past participle spumat) 1st conjugation^[1] An older form aspuma occurs in Antim's sermons: „gura aspumează, scrâșnește cu dinții lui” “his mouth foams, he gnashes his teeth”.^[2]

Etymology

It is a verb from Romanian spumă (“foam”), according to DEX and MDA2.^[3][4][1] Ciorănescu also lists it among the derivatives of the noun, adding that it may come directly from Latin spūmō (“to foam, froth”), as Pușcariu held;^[5][2] Tiktin takes it straight from the Latin verb.^[5][2] The noun continues spūma (“foam”), and the Latin verb is formed on it.^[5][1]

Related verbs are Aromanian spumedz, which Papahagi derives from the Latin verb,^[6] and Italian spumare.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to about 1560, in the Apostle of the priest Bratu.^[2] MDA2's first record is the Romanian–Latin glossary known as the Anonymus Caransebesiensis, of about 1650–1700.^[4] The Bucharest Bible of 1688 has spumează “foams” in Mark 9:18, the verse about the possessed boy that Antim later retold with aspumează.^[7][2]

Semantic evolution

The verb is said first of all of liquids and waters that foam, and of soap that lathers.^[4][3] Of animals, above all horses, it means to be covered in foam, and of people or animals to foam at the mouth from illness or anger.^[4] From this comes the figurative use for a person beside himself with rage, as in a 19th-century satire where a hodja speaks “foaming with fury”, and the expression a spuma de furie or de ciudă.^[2][3] MDA2 records a regional transitive sense “to lather (the beard)”.^[4]

The reflexive a se spuma also means “to foam, to become covered with foam”.^[2][8] Its common synonym is spumega, which Ciorănescu derives from the same verb with an expressive suffix.^[5][3]

Timeline

• c. 1560 – first record, in the Apostle of the priest Bratu.^[2]
• c. 1650–1700 – in the Anonymus Caransebesiensis glossary.^[4]
• 1688 – spumează in the Bucharest Bible, Mark 9:18.^[7]

Meanings

Verb

1. Of water, waves or other liquids: to foam, to froth; also reflexive: Valurile spumau la țărm.^[3][4][1]
2. Of animals, especially horses: to be covered with foam, to lather: Calul spuma după cursă.^[3][4]
3. Of people: to seethe with anger;^[3][4] a spuma de furie (or de ciudă) “to be furious”.^[3][4]
4. (regional) To lather (the beard) with soap.^[4]

Related words

• spumă
• spumega
• Aromanian spumedz

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. spuma
3. ^ a b c d e f g h DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1043
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 965
5. ^ 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. spumă
6. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 970
7. ^ a b Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Mark 9:18
8. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 4, 205