tunsoare

Forms

tunsoare f (plural tunsori)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Romanian tuns + -oare, from the participle and verbal noun of tunde (“to cut (hair), shear”).^[2][3][4][5] Ciorănescu lists it among the derivatives of the verb.^[6] Wiktionary compares Latin tonsōria.^[1] The verb is from Latin tondeō.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is a document of before 1656 quoted by Hasdeu: „Când au fost la tunsoare, hărăzit-au coconului partea noastră de moșie” “when they were at the shearing, they granted the boy our share of the estate”.^[4][3] DLR files it under the first sense, the act of cutting hair.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Besides the cutting of hair and the way it is cut, the noun was used of shearing animals, and Șăineanu defined it as the shearing of sheep and its season.^[4][7] A 19th-century gardening book uses it of mowing a lawn.^[5] Ciorănescu adds the pruning of trees.^[6]

In Transylvania it meant the harvesting of fruit: Frâncu and Candrea describe how an owner sold the year's crop either in spring, when the apple trees were in bloom, pe o tunsoare, or in autumn when the fruit was ripe.^[5][4][3] The current sense is a haircut or hairstyle.^[2][1]

Timeline

• before 1656 – la tunsoare in a document quoted by Hasdeu, the first record.^[3][4]
• 1870 – recorded in Costinescu's dictionary.^[4]
• 1886 – Barcianu has it for the shearing of animals.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. The cutting of hair; the way someone's hair is cut, a haircut or hairstyle: Și-a schimbat tunsoarea înainte de nuntă.^[2][8]
2. The shearing of animals, especially sheep.^[4][7]
3. (regional, Transylvania) The harvest of fruit.^[3][4]

Related words

• tunde
• tuns
• tunsură

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1154
3. ^ a b c d e Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 1300
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. tunsoare
5. ^ a b c Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. tunsoare
6. ^ a b c 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. tunde
7. ^ a b Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 672
8. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. tunsoare