ulei

Forms

ulei n (plural uleiuri)^[1] Old and regional forms are olei, uleu and oleu; in Moldavia, Bukovina, Maramureș, Transylvania and the Banat the usual word is oloi: „uloiu turnă deasupra pe ea” “he poured oil on it” (the Sicriul de aur, of Jacob's stone, Genesis 28:18).^[2][3][4] The Palia de la Orăștie (1581–1582) has uleu: „deasupra uleu vărsă pre ea” “he poured oil upon it”.^[3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Old Church Slavonic олѣи (olěi).^{[4][3][5][1][2]} Ciorănescu compares the Slovene, Czech, Polish and Russian forms, such as Polish olej, and Tiktin Serbo-Croatian ulje, also Slovene, which has the same initial ⟨u⟩.^[6][2]

The Slavic word, Proto-Slavic *olějь, is borrowed from Latin oleum (“olive oil”) or Ancient Greek ἔλαιον (élaion).^[1] Vasmer favours a loan from the west, from the Latin word or from Old High German olei.^[7] The Latin word is itself from the Greek one.^[8]

The regional oloi is a doublet: it comes from Hungarian olaj, which Hungarian took from Slavic.^{[6][2][9][10]}

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Slavonic–Romanian Gospel of Sibiu (1551–1553), in the parable of the ten virgins: „luvară candile a lor și nu luvară cu sine ulei” “they took their lamps and took no oil with them” (Matthew 25).^[2][3] The sense is lamp oil.^[3]

Semantic evolution

In the old texts ulei was the oil of the Bible: the oil for lamps, for anointing and of offerings; the Slavonic–Romanian lexicons of the 17th century gloss Slavonic елей with it.^[3][11] In everyday use it meant the oil pressed from seeds: linseed, hempseed, rapeseed, later sunflower.^[2][3] Scriban marks it as western, the eastern word being oloi, and DLRLV records it in the Banat and Transylvania for untdelemn.^[12][13]

From the 19th century the word extended to mineral and synthetic oils: ulei de piatră “petroleum”, lamp oil in Transylvania, lubricating oil, essential oils.^[3][4] Painting gave în ulei “in oils” and the plural uleiuri “oil paints, oil paintings”.^[3][5] Slang uses it for a strong drink.^[14]

Timeline

• 1551–1553 – ulei “oil” in the Slavonic–Romanian Gospel of Sibiu, the first record.^[2][3]
• 1581–1582 – uleu in the Palia de la Orăștie.^[3]
• 1648 – uleiu in the New Testament of 1648.^[3][13]
• 1649 – uleu in Mardarie's Slavonic–Romanian lexicon.^[3]
• 1787 – a letter asks for ten measures of ulei to be bought.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. oil: a fatty liquid of vegetable, animal, mineral or synthetic origin that does not mix with water and is lighter than it, used in food and industry: ulei de floarea-soarelui “sunflower oil”.^[5][4][1]
2. (chemistry) In phrases for kinds of oil: ulei mineral “mineral oil”, ulei eteric “essential oil”.^[4]
3. în ulei: painted with oil colours: portret în ulei; in the plural, oil paints or oil paintings.^[5][3]
4. (in the plural) Kinds or grades of oil.^[5]

Word family

• uleios

Related words

• oloi
• untdelemn
• Latin oleum

Usage notes

DEX has a second, regional noun ulei (plural uleie), used mainly in Muntenia and Oltenia for a hollow tree trunk, a vessel made from one, and a primitive beehive.^[5][4] It has a separate source, Bulgarian улей (ulej), which goes back to Old Church Slavonic uliĭ; it is recorded from about 1600.^[5][6][2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e 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. ulei
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. ulei
4. ^ 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, 1361
5. ^ a b c d e f g DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1167
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. ulei
7. ^ Vasmer, Max (1964–1973), Ètimologičeskij slovar' russkogo jazyka, transl. and suppl. by O. N. Trubačev, 4 vols., Moskva: Progress
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Benkő, Loránd (ed.) (1967–1976), A magyar nyelv történeti-etimológiai szótára, 3 vols., Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, p. 2, 1073
10. ^ Gabinschi, Marcu (2001), Dicționar de dublete etimologice ale limbii române, 2nd ed., Chișinău: Litera, p. 134
11. ^ 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. ulei
12. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1374
13. ^ a b Costinescu, Mariana; Georgescu, Magdalena; Zgraon, Florentina (1987), Dicționarul limbii române literare vechi (1640–1780): termeni regionali, București: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică, p. 1, 306
14. ^ Volceanov, George (2007), Dicționar de argou al limbii române, București: Niculescu, p. s.v. ulei