turbăciune

Forms

turbăciune f (plural turbăciuni)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Romanian turba (“to go mad, to rage”) + -ăciune, according to Tiktin, MDA2, DEX and the Romanian Wiktionary.^[2][3][4][5] Cihac and Scriban took it instead from Latin turbātiō (“disturbance, disorder”), and Gabinschi allows both explanations.^[6][7][8] Wiktionary gives the Latin source as possible only.^[1] The Latin noun is formed on turbō (“to disturb”) with the suffix -tiō.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is in Dosoftei's Lives of the Saints, printed in 1683.^[2] MDA2 dates it only from 1820, Alexandru Beldiman's translation of Voltaire's Oreste.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Tiktin gives two old senses, “rabies” and “rage, frenzy”.^[2] An old encyclopedia he quotes explains the disease: „Turbăciunea se întâmplă la câni și la oameni din pricina unui vierme ce se află sub limba cânelui” “rabies occurs in dogs and in people because of a worm under the dog's tongue”.^[2] Beldiman uses the word for fury: „Grecii se rădică toți Cu atâta turbăciune, încât a crede nu poți” “the Greeks all rise up with such fury that you cannot believe it”.^[2]

DEX 1998 calls the word rare and DEX 2009 obsolete.^[10][4] Scriban knew it in a jocular, ironic use for a fit of anger.^[7] In the regions it names plants that were thought to cause madness: henbane, thorn apple and black nightshade.^[3][11]

Timeline

• 1683 – Dosoftei's Lives of the Saints, the first record.^[2]
• 1820 – Beldiman's translation of Voltaire's Oreste, in the sense “fury”.^[3][2]
• 1870 – Cihac lists it under the verb turba and compares Latin turbatio.^[6]
• 1939 – Scriban records the ironic colloquial use.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. (obsolete) rabies.^[12][2]
2. (obsolete) rage, fury, frenzy.^[12][4][1]
3. (regional, botany) henbane (Hyoscyamus niger), also called turbăciunea-câinelui; thorn apple (Datura stramonium).^[3][11]
4. (regional, botany) black nightshade (Solanum nigrum).^[3]

Related words

• turba
• turbare
• Latin turbātiō

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. turbăciune
3. ^ a b c d e f Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 1301
4. ^ a b c DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1154
5. ^ Wikționar (Romanian Wiktionary), ro.wiktionary.org
6. ^ a b Cihac, A. de (1870), Dictionnaire d'étymologie daco-romane I: Éléments latins comparés avec les autres langues romanes, Frankfurt am Main, p. 291
7. ^ a b c Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1357
8. ^ Gabinschi, Marcu (2001), Dicționar de dublete etimologice ale limbii române, 2nd ed., Chișinău: Litera, p. 175
9. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan” (1998), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române, 2nd ed., București: Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1120
11. ^ a b Stati, Vasile (2003), Dicționar moldovenesc-românesc, Chișinău, p. 318
12. ^ a b Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 4, 522