timpuriu

Forms

timpuriu m or n (feminine singular timpurie, plural timpurii)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *temporīvus (“timely, early”), from tempus (“time”).^{[2][3][4][5][6][1]} The Latin form was proposed by Densusianu.^[5][7] Northern Italian dialects have the same adjective: Milanese temporiv, Venetian temporivo and Genoese temporivo.^[5][6] Spanish temprano and Portuguese temporão were formed with another suffix.^[6] South of the Danube it survives as Aromanian timpuriu.^[8]

Ciorănescu thinks a Romanian formation more likely, from Romanian timp + -iu, made on the plural ⟨timpuri⟩ in the way fumuriu is made on fum.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Codicele Voronețean (James 5:7), where the labourer waits for „ploaie timpurie și tărdzie” “the early and the latter rain”.^[3][2][4]

Semantic evolution

The sense “early” has stayed the same.^[4] The Bucharest Bible of 1688 has ploaie timpurie “early rain” and the adverb de timpuriu “early”.^[4] Dosoftei uses it as a noun, “one's youth”, opposed to târziu.^[4] In gardening it is said of early-flowering plants and early-ripening fruit.^[4][9] Old texts also have the form tâmpuriu.^[2][4] The Lexicon de la Buda (1825) glosses it with Latin temporarius and praecox.^[10] In Aromanian a lamb born early is called timpuriu.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 1563–1583 – ploaie timpurie in the Codicele Voronețean (James 5:7), the first record.^[3][2]
• 1688 – ploaie timpurie and de timpuriu in the Bucharest Bible.^[4]
• 1825 – timpuriu in the Lexicon de la Buda.^[10]

Meanings

Adjective

1. early: happening, appearing or done before the usual or expected time; premature;^[9][2][1] de timpuriu “early, in good time”.^[9][2][1]
2. Of fruit and vegetables, ripening early; of flowers and trees, blooming or coming into leaf early.^[9][11][1]

Adverb

1. (literary) Early.^[1]

Related words

• timp

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 1220
3. ^ a b c Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. timpuriu
4. ^ 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. timpuriu
5. ^ a b c d Pușcariu, Sextil (1905), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der rumänischen Sprache I: Lateinisches Element, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 160
6. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 8632
7. ^ a b 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. timp
8. ^ Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net), p. 1014
9. ^ a b c d DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1126
10. ^ a b Lesicon românescu-latinescu-ungurescu-nemțescu quare de mai mulți autori, în cursul a trideci și mai multor ani s-au lucrat (1825), Buda: Typographia Universității (the Lexicon of Buda, ed. Petru Maior et al.), p. 709
11. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. timpuriu