tulbure

Forms

tulbure m or f or n (plural tulburi)^[1] The variant turbure is the older one in texts and survives in the west: „De pripă se siripi bura trupască și rădică furtună turbure” in Moxa's chronicle.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *turbulus (“troubled, cloudy”).^{[5][4][6][2][7][1]} DEX equates it with Latin turbidus (“disturbed, muddy”), and DLR and MDA2 compare turbulentus (“stormy, turbulent”);^[5][6][4][1] Wiktionary explains it as a diminutive or alteration within the family of turba (“disorderly crowd”).^[5][6][4][1]

It survives as Aromanian turburi.^[8][9] The Romance cognates include French trouble, Catalan tèrbol, Occitan trebol, Sicilian trúbbulu and Lombard tórbor, and Albanian tarbulj is compared.^[8][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record dates from 1460, a Romanian word in the Slavonic documents.^[2] In Romanian texts the 1589 psalter of Coresi has turbure.^[10] MDA2's first record is the Mineiul of 1776: „izvoarăle ceale turbure” “the muddy springs”.^[4][6]

Semantic evolution

The word describes water that is muddy or stirred up.^[5] By extension it is said of a clouded sky, a dull light, blurred eyes and an unsettled mind.^[5][2] Dosoftei wrote of „negură turbure” “thick fog” round a ship, and the figurative “confused, hard to understand” and “unsettled” of political times followed.^[2][5] Regionally it is said of an addled egg.^[4]

The diminutive tulburel (turburel) names new wine that has not yet cleared.^[8][2] The verb tulbura is not formed on the adjective but continues Vulgar Latin *turbulō in parallel.^[8]

Timeline

• 1460 – first record, a Romanian word in a Slavonic document.^[2]
• 1589 – turbure in Coresi's psalter.^[10]
• 1620 – furtună turbure “a troubled storm” in Moxa's chronicle.^[2]
• 1660 – turbure glossing Slavonic “muddy water” in a Slavonic–Romanian lexicon.^[11]
• 1776 – turbure in the Mineiul, MDA2's first record.^[4][6]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of liquids: not clear, cloudy, muddy; of waters: stirred up, rough: apă tulbure.^[5][1]
2. Of the sky or weather: overcast, gloomy.^[5]
3. (figurative) Dim, unclear; confused, hard to understand: lumină tulbure.^[5]
4. Of eyes or a look: blurred, clouded.^[5]
5. (figurative) Of social or political conditions: unsettled, troubled; of the mind: uneasy, agitated.^[5][1]

Word family

• tulburel

Related words

• tulbura
• tulburare
• tulburat

Usage notes

A pescui în apă tulbure “to fish in troubled waters” is a common idiom.^[2][12]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. tulbure
3. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1357
4. ^ a b c d e f g Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 1296
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1152
6. ^ a b c d e Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. tulbure
7. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 8998
8. ^ 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. turbure
9. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1056
10. ^ a b Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Ungureanu, Mădălina; Moruz, Alexandru et al., roPsalt: Re-evaluating the Sixteenth Century Romanian Psalters (aligned corpus), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. Ps 82:16
11. ^ Ungureanu, Mădălina; Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Moruz, Alexandru (eds.), eRomLex: The First Romanian Bilingual Dictionaries (17th century), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. s.v. turbure
12. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 4, 516