umăr

Forms

umăr m (plural umeri)^[1] The body part has the plural umeri; older and popular speech also has a neuter umere, which in the sense “coat hanger” is the standard plural.^[2][3] The Palia de la Orăștie has the old plural umerele: „Umerele sale le plecă de-a purtarea tovară” “he bowed his shoulders to bear burdens” (Genesis 49:15).^[4][5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin humerus (“shoulder”), a variant of umerus.^[6][3][1][7] The Latin word comes from Proto-Indo-European *h₃émsos (“shoulder”).^[1] The word survives in all four branches: Aromanian umir (also numir), Megleno-Romanian numir and Istro-Romanian umer (also rumer).^[6] The Romance cognates include Italian omero and Spanish hombro.^[6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin and MDA2 date the first record to the Psaltirea Scheiană, about 1573–1578 (Psalm 67:14).^[4][3] The psalter of Ciobanu (about 1573–1585) has the plural umeri (Psalm 57:9).^[8] The sense was the human shoulder.^[4]

Semantic evolution

From the shoulder of the body the word passed to the part of a garment that covers it, to the cheekbone (umărul obrazului), to the shoulder of a hill and of a vessel, to a projection that supports another object, to the part of a yoke that rests on the neck of cattle, and to a coat hanger.^[2][6] Ciorănescu notes that the word is neuter in the senses “coat hanger”, the projecting part of a cart's stanchion and the handle of a hand saw.^[6][6]

Idioms include umăr la umăr “side by side”, a pune umărul “to lend a hand”, a da din umeri “to shrug” and the popular a-și lua picioarele de-a umeri “to take to one's heels”.^[2][4]

Timeline

• c. 1573–1578 – first record, in the Psaltirea Scheiană.^[4][3]
• c. 1573–1585 – umeri in the psalter of Ciobanu.^[8]
• 1688 – umărul, umerii and other forms in the Bucharest Bible.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. The shoulder: the part of the human body at the joint of the arm and the trunk; also the part of a garment that covers it.^[2][1]
2. Umărul obrazului: the cheekbone.^[2][6]
3. The bulging part of a vessel near its neck; a projection that supports another object.^[2]
4. The part of a yoke that rests on the neck of cattle.^[2]
5. (neuter, plural umere) A coat hanger.^[2][6]

Word family

• umărar
• umăraș
• umăros
• umeros
• umeri
• umeraș

Related words

• Aromanian umir
• Latin humerus

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1169
3. ^ a b c d Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 1365
4. ^ 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. umăr
5. ^ Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. umăr
6. ^ 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. umăr
7. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 4232
8. ^ a b 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 57:9
9. ^ Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Facerea 49:15