tușina

Forms

tușina (third-person singular present tușinează, past participle tușinat) 1st conjugation^[1] Tiktin records a variant tușuna;^[2][3] MDA2 adds a regional present tușin beside tușinez.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *tōnsiōnō (“to shear”), a verb formed on Late Latin tōnsiō (“shearing”), which comes from Latin tondeō (“to shear, to clip”), according to DEX, MDA2, the DLR and Wiktionary.^[4][3][5][1] Densusianu and Candrea first proposed the Latin verb.^[6] Ciorănescu also allows a route through a Romanian noun tușină “shearing, sheared fleece”, which is barely attested;^[6] Pușcariu, Lacea and the REW discuss it.^[6] Tiktin simply connects the verb with the Latin noun.^[2]

The Latin noun also lives on in Sardinian tosone and in French toison, which in Old French took the sense “fleece”.^[6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to 1822.^[2] He quotes Drăghici on sheep: „Oile să tușinează la fătat” “the sheep are trimmed at lambing time”.^[2] MDA2's first record is Tiktin's own dictionary of 1903.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The word belongs to sheep farming: to clip a ewe under the belly and between the hind legs, so that she can be milked and the lambs can suck more easily.^[2][3][4] Regionally it is also to clip off dirty or overlong wool, or to shear a second time in autumn.^[3]

From there it spread to any close, even cutting: of hair, beard or moustache, which Sadoveanu describes trimmed with sheep shears; of the loose threads at the edges of a mat or a fabric, as in Pamfile's account of mat-making; and of grass and hedges.^[8][4][2]

Timeline

• 1822 – the first record, according to Tiktin.^[2]
• 1903 – Tiktin's dictionary, the first record in MDA2.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. (popular, transitive) to shear sheep under the belly and between the hind legs, to make milking and suckling easier.^[4][3][1]
2. to crop hair, a beard or a moustache short and neat.^[4][8]
3. to trim the loose threads at the ends or edges of a fabric or a woven mat.^[4][8]
4. to mow grass; to clip the foliage of trees or shrubs level.^[4]

Word family

• tușinat
• tușinătură

Related words

• Latin tondeō
• French toison

References

1. ^ a b c 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. tușina
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 1309
4. ^ a b c d e f g DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1156
5. ^ Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. tușina
6. ^ 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. tușina
7. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ 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, 528