uger

Forms

uger n (plural ugere)^[1] Scriban gives unger for southern and ulger for northern Moldavia.^[2][3] Beside the plural ugere, MDA2 notes a rare masculine plural ugeri.^[4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin ūber (“breast, udder”), as DER, Tiktin, MDA2, the DLR and DEX agree.^{[3][5][4][6][7][1]} The Latin /b/ appears here as /g/, as in rug from rubus.^[3][1] Pușcariu and Tiktin explain the /g/ by the influence of suge “to suck”, and the REW follows them.^[3][5][8] The Moldavian ulger leans on mulge “to milk”.^[5][1] Ciorănescu rejects Cihac's comparison with Hungarian ugyan.^[3]

The word also survives as Aromanian udzire and Istro-Romanian uger.^[3][9] Its Romance cognates include Portuguese ubre and Spanish ubre;^[3][10] Italian ubero is a learned loan from Latin.^[3][10]

The Latin word goes back to Proto-Indo-European *h₁ówHdʰr̥ (“udder”), the source also of Sanskrit ऊधर् (ū́dhar), Ancient Greek οὖθαρ (oûthar) and Old English ūder.^[1][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is the Palia de la Orăștie of 1581–1582, in Genesis 49:25, the blessing of Jacob.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The word names the udder of cows, ewes, goats and sows; the DLR quotes a calendar of 1814 on swellings of the udder.^[6][12] MDA2 records two rare older senses: a woman's breast and, of plants, a bud.^[4] The first returns in present-day slang as a vulgar word for a breast.^[13] As food it is a dish made from the udder of a slaughtered animal.^[12]

Timeline

• 1581–1582 – the Palia de la Orăștie, Genesis 49:25, the first record.^[5]
• 1814 – a calendar writes of swellings of the udders (ugere).^[6]
• 1825 – the Lexicon de la Buda glosses ugeru with Latin uber and German Euter.^[14]
• 1870 – Cihac lists it with its Latin etymon.^[15]

Meanings

Noun

1. udder: the milk-secreting organ of female mammals, formed by the fusion of the mammary glands.^[7][4][1]
2. (rare) a woman's breast;^[4][13] (slang, vulgar) a breast.^[4][13]
3. (rare, of plants) a bud.^[4]
4. (cooking) udder prepared as food.^[12]

Related words

• Aromanian udzire
• Latin ūber

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1372
3. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. uger
4. ^ a b c d e f g Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 1358
5. ^ 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. uger
6. ^ a b c Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. uger
7. ^ a b DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1166
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 9026
9. ^ Pascu, Giorge (1925), Dictionnaire étymologique macédoroumain, 2 vols. (I: Les éléments latins et romans; II: Les éléments grecs, turcs, slaves, albanais, germaniques, magyars, néologismes, créations immédiates, obscurs), Iași: Cultura Națională, p. 1, 178
10. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
11. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
12. ^ a b c Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. uger
13. ^ a b c Volceanov, George (2007), Dicționar de argou al limbii române, București: Niculescu, p. s.v. uger
14. ^ Lesicon românescu-latinescu-ungurescu-nemțescu quare de mai mulți autori, în cursul a trideci și mai multor ani s-au lucrat (1825), Buda: Typographia Universității (the Lexicon of Buda, ed. Petru Maior et al.), p. 731
15. ^ Cihac, A. de (1870), Dictionnaire d'étymologie daco-romane I: Éléments latins comparés avec les autres langues romanes, Frankfurt am Main, p. 295