tupeu

Forms

tupeu n (plural tupeuri)^[1] Costinescu's dictionary of 1870 spells it tupet, as a foreign word: avé tupetu “to have nerve”.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French toupet, borrowed with its figurative sense of boldness.^{[4][5][3][1][6]} MDA2 records the old variant tupet.^[3][2]

The French word, “tuft of hair”, is a diminutive of Old French top (“tuft of hair on top of the head”), from Frankish *topp (“summit, tuft”), which is related to English top.^[7][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Costinescu's Romanian–French dictionary of 1870 lists tupet as a foreign word, with the literal sense “tuft of hair, of beard, of feathers”, a familiar figurative sense of impatience and anger, and the phrase avé tupetu “to be bold, to show effrontery”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Romanian kept only the figurative sense: boldness that goes beyond what is fitting, impudence.^[5][8] DLR quotes it from the periodical Contemporanul and Ion Vinea's prose.^[6] The literal sense survives only in the theatre, for a lock of hair stuck on at the hairline and combed in with the actor's own hair.^[9][10][3]

Timeline

• 1870 – tupet in Costinescu's dictionary, the first record.^[2][3]
• 1929 – tupeu “impudence” in Șăineanu's dictionary.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. nerve, audacity: boldness beyond what is proper; impudence.^[5][3][1]
2. (theatre) A lock of hair, often of another colour, stuck on at the hairline of the forehead and combed in with the wearer's own hair.^[9][10][3]

Usage notes

The noun is mostly used in the singular; the plural tupeuri is rare.^[11][3]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 2, 649
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, 1300
4. ^ 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. tupeu
5. ^ a b c DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1154
6. ^ a b Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. tupeu
7. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. toupet
8. ^ a b Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 672
9. ^ a b Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România
10. ^ a b Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual
11. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan” (1998), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române, 2nd ed., București: Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1119