trufă

trufă¹ truffle

Forms

trufă f (plural trufe)^[2] It was also written truffă after French, and a regional masculine truf occurs.^[3][4]

Etymology

The word for the truffle is borrowed from French truffe.^{[1][4][5][6][2]} DN adds Italian truffa and Occitan trufa as further models.^[7] The French word came through Old Occitan from Late Latin tufera of the glosses, a dialect variant of tūber (“swelling, tuber”).^[8][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

MDA2's first record is in Codru-Drăgușanu, who speaks of goose-liver pâtés with truffles.^[4][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A truffle: any of several edible underground fungi (Tuber), dark violet and shaped like potatoes.^[1][2]
2. A chocolate confection made of chocolate cream.^[1]

trufă² arrogance, pride

Forms

trufă f (plural trufe)^[2]

Etymology

The old word for pride is, according to DEX, inherited from Vulgar Latin *trufa;^[1][4][3] MDA2 and the DLR derive that Latin form from Ancient Greek τρυφή (truphḗ, “softness, luxury”).^[1][4][3] Cihac, Roesler, Șăineanu, Densusianu and Rosetti took it straight from the Greek word, and Tiktin calls it an old Greek loan.^[10][11] Ciorănescu finds the Greek source unsuited both in meaning and in sound; he calls the origin doubtful and suggests an indirect continuation of triumphus (“triumph”), like Italian tronfio (“proud”) and German Trumpf, through Slavic dialects that lost the nasal, though no such intermediate form is known.^[10][12][13] Wiktionary calls the origin unknown, finds a link with Ancient Greek τροφή (trophḗ, “food”) unlikely, and prefers the Latin word for “triumph”, which would make the word a doublet of triumf.^[2] Tiktin notes Bulgarian words for “ornament” and “to adorn”;^[11][10] Ciorănescu derives the word of the Transylvanian Bulgarians from Romanian.^[11][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Psaltirea Voroneț (c. 1551–1558), at Psalm 100:9, in the sense “pride, arrogance”.^[14] The Psaltirea Scheiană speaks of lying lips that talk „cu trufă și cu batgiocuri” “with pride and mockery”.^[3][4]

Semantic evolution

Pride and haughtiness are the sense in the old texts, from the psalters to the chroniclers: Moxa's chronicle says Trajan defeated the pride of the Turks, and Costin's chronicle describes an envoy who came “with great boasting”.^[11][3] One old text, glossed by Drăganu, uses it for “delight, softness”.^[15] The 17th-century Slavonic–Romanian lexicons gloss pride and pomp with it.^[16] The old phrase în trufă meant “for show, to boast”, and a regional cojoc de trufă is a festive sheepskin coat.^[4] Today the word is archaic and regional, replaced by its derivative trufie.^[1][4]

Timeline

• c. 1551–1558 – trufă in the Psaltirea Voroneț, the first record.^[14]
• 1570 – six times in Coresi's psalter.^[17]
• c. 1573–1578 – in the Psaltirea Scheiană.^[4]
• 1649 – in Mardarie's Slavonic–Romanian lexicon.^[16]
• 1688 – in the Bucharest Bible, Judith 15:11.^[18]

Meanings

Noun

1. (archaic) pride, arrogance, haughtiness; a synonym of trufie.^[1][4][2]

Word family

• trufie
• trufaș
• trufi
• trufășie