ușura

Forms

ușura (third-person singular present ușurează, past participle ușurat) first conjugation^[1] The old texts have iușira and iușura: the Codicele Voronețean writes „Săturară-se de mâncare și iușirară corabia” “they ate their fill and lightened the ship” (Acts 27:38).^[2] Dosoftei has iușoară: „Strig pre Domnul, de-mi iușoară greul” “I cry to the Lord, that he may lighten my burden”.^[3]

Etymology

It is a verb from Romanian ușor (“light, easy”).^[4][5][6][1] The old forms ⟨iușura⟩ and ⟨iușira⟩ match the old adjective ⟨iușor⟩.^[2][6]

The adjective goes back to Latin levis (“light”), through an unattested Romanian ⟨*lieu⟩ with the diminutive suffix -șor.^[6][1] Aromanian formed a verb of its own the same way, Aromanian lishuredz from lishor.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

MDA2 and Tiktin date the first record to the Codicele Voronețean (c. 1563–1583), where those aboard lighten the ship by throwing the wheat into the sea (Acts 27:38).^[4][3][2] The first sense is the literal one, to take weight off a load or a ship.^[2]

Semantic evolution

From the lightening of a load the verb passed to burdens of the mind: Dosoftei asks God to lighten his grief, and a folk song tells of easing one's sorrow.^[3][7] Later senses are to relieve a pain or an illness, to unburden one's heart by confiding, and to make something easier.^[5] In jest, a ușura punga or a ușura de bani is to relieve someone of their money.^[4][5]

Iordache Golescu and Șăineanu record a sense “to give birth”.^[2][8] In slang the reflexive is a euphemism for relieving oneself.^[9][1]

Timeline

• c. 1563–1583 – iușirară “they lightened” in the Codicele Voronețean.^[4][2]
• 1648 – ușurară corabiia “they lightened the ship” in the New Testament of 1648.^[3][2]
• 1660 – ușurez in a Slavonic–Romanian lexicon.^[10]
• 1688 – several forms in the Bucharest Bible.^[11]
• 1801 – Klein's dictionary glosses ușurez with Latin alevio.^[12]

Meanings

Verb

1. To lighten, to reduce in weight; reflexive, to become lighter.^[5][4][1]
2. (figurative) To relieve or soothe a physical or moral suffering; reflexive, to unburden oneself by confiding; of an illness, to ease.^[5][1]
3. To make easier, to facilitate.^[5][1]
4. To free from a burden;^[5] (colloquial) a (se) ușura de bani “to spend, or make someone spend, all their money”;^[5] (figurative) to spare.^[5]
5. (slang, reflexive) To relieve oneself.^[9][1]

Related words

• ușor
• ușurință
• Aromanian lishuredz

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. ușura
3. ^ a b c d Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. ușura
4. ^ 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, 1400
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1, 1178
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. ușor
7. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 4, 605
8. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 1, 683
9. ^ a b Volceanov, George (2007), Dicționar de argou al limbii române, București: Niculescu, p. s.v. ușura
10. ^ 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. ușura
11. ^ Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Exodus 18:22
12. ^ Gáldi, László (ed.) (1944), Samuel Klein: Dictionarium valachico-latinum. Primul dicționar al limbii române, Budapest: Királyi Magyar Pázmány Péter Tudományegyetemi Román Intézet (Klein's dictionary of 1801, with Gáldi's etymological study), p. 466