uda

Forms

a uda (third-person singular present udă, past participle udat, third-person subjunctive ude) 1st conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin ūdō (“to wet”), a verb formed on ūdus (“wet”).^[1][2][3] Ciorănescu lists it among the derivatives of the adjective ud, but adds that it must go back to the Latin verb, as Pușcariu and the REW hold.^[4][5] The adjective is a contracted form of ūvidus (“wet”).^[6]

The verb survives in all four branches: Aromanian ud, Megleno-Romanian ud and Istro-Romanian ud.^[4] Outside Romanian, the REW gives only Dalmatian duot (“wetted”), a derivative.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin and MDA2 date the verb from the Psaltirea Scheiană (c. 1573–1578), where it renders “I water my couch” in Psalm 6.^[7][2][8] Coresi's Gospel book has it in the parable of Lazarus: „să-și ude cel deget mai mic într-apă” “that he may dip the tip of his finger in water” (Luke 16:24).^[7]

Semantic evolution

From “to make wet, to soak” the verb came to mean dipping something in a liquid, sprinkling, and watering plants and gardens.^[3][7][9] A river or sea is said to uda a region it flows through or a coast it washes: Dunărea udă șase țări “the Danube waters six countries”.^[10][9] Familiar uses are “to wash food down with drink” and “to urinate”.^[4]

Set phrases include a-și uda gura “to have a sip”, a uda prânzul “to drink wine with a meal” and a i se uda ochii “to have tears in one's eyes”.^[3] In the 17th-century Slavonic–Romanian lexicons ud “I wet” renders Slavonic verbs for soaking and dipping.^[11] The family includes udare, udat, udătură “wetting; soup, drink” and udeală “dampness; drink”.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 1573–1578 – in the Psaltirea Scheiană, the first record.^[2][7]
• 1577 – ud “I water” in Coresi's Psalter.^[12]
• c. 1660–1670 – ud glosses Slavonic verbs for soaking in a Slavonic–Romanian lexicon.^[11]
• 1688 – „Cu lacrămile mele așternutul mieu voiu uda” “with my tears I will water my couch” in the Bucharest Bible.^[7][13]

Meanings

Verb

1. To wet, to moisten, to soak or sprinkle with water or another liquid; to dip something in a liquid.^[3][1]
2. To water plants or a garden.^[9][1]
3. (of rivers and seas) To flow through a region and supply it with water; to wash a coast.^[3][9]
4. (familiar) To wash food down with drink; to urinate.^[4]

Word family

• udare
• udat
• udătură
• udeală

Related words

• ud

Usage notes

A-și uda gura means “to drink a little to quench one's thirst”, and a uda prânzul “to drink wine with one's meal”.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 1357
3. ^ a b c d e f DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1166
4. ^ a b c d e 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. ud
5. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 9029
6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d e Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. udá
8. ^ Candrea, I.-A. (1916), Psaltirea Scheiană comparată cu celelalte psaltiri din sec. XVI și XVII traduse din slavonește, vol. II: Glosarele, București: Socec, p. 399
9. ^ a b c d Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. uda
10. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. uda
11. ^ a b 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. ud
12. ^ 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 6:6
13. ^ Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Psaltirea 6:6