strănuta

Forms

strănuta (third-person singular present strănută, past participle strănutat, third-person subjunctive strănute), 1st conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin sternūtō (“to sneeze”), the frequentative of sternuō (“to sneeze”).^{[2][3][4][5][1][6]} Ciorănescu cites Meyer, Pascu and the REW for it.^[2] Its variants include stărnuta and strenuta.^[2][3]

The verb survives south of the Danube: Aromanian stărnut.^[2][7] The Romance cognates include Italian starnutare with Old Italian stranutare, Sicilian stranutari, Friulian stranudâ, Catalan estornudar, Spanish estornudar and French éternuer.^[2][6] Ciorănescu notes that the word is missing in western Transylvania, after the linguistic atlas ALR.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is the Cazania de la Govora of 1642, with the sense “to sneeze”.^[8] MDA2's first record is Ion Neculce's chronicle (c. 1743), where Prince Barnovschi sat at table and began to sneeze often and loudly: „a început a strănuta Barnovschi Vodă des și tare”.^[3][8][5]

Semantic evolution

The sense has stayed “to sneeze”, said of people and of some animals.^[4][5] Dimitrie Cantemir has stărnutând sânge “sneezing blood”, which Tiktin quotes;^[8][3] MDA2 records a rare sense “to throw up through the mouth”.^[8][3] Of horses, the verb can mean “to snort”, as in Sadoveanu.^[9][3]

Praf de strănutat “sneezing powder” is an irritant that makes one sneeze.^[4] The plant name iarbă de strănutat “sneezewort” translates French herbe à éternuer and German Nieskraut, according to Tiktin.^[8] A popular saying of 1779 held that whoever looks at the sun and does not sneeze is happy.^[5] The noun strănut “sneeze” is formed from the verb.^[2]

Timeline

• 1642 – the Cazania de la Govora, Tiktin's first record.^[8]
• c. 1743 – Neculce's chronicle, MDA2's first record.^[3][5]
• 1779 – a saying about the sun and sneezing, in a manuscript quoted by the DLR.^[5]
• 1811 – a calendar recommends snuff blown into the nose to make people sneeze.^[5]

Meanings

Verb

1. (intransitive, of people and some animals) To sneeze: to expel air from the lungs through the nose and mouth with a sudden, involuntary, noisy jerk: A strănutat de trei ori.^[4][9][1]
2. (rare, of horses) To snort.^[9][3]

Word family

• strănut

Related words

• Aromanian stărnut
• Latin sternuō

Usage notes

MDA2 lists many regional variants, among them stărnuta, sdrănuta and zdrăhuna.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. strănuta
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 1004
4. ^ a b c d DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1057
5. ^ a b c d e f g Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. strănuta
6. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 8250
7. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 973
8. ^ a b c d e f Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. strănutá
9. ^ a b c Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 4, 255