unghi

Forms

unghi n (plural unghiuri)^[1] A 1597 document has the old form înghiu.^[2][3] Molnar writes iunghiuri: „găocițăle cele cu șasă iunghiuri” “the little cells with six angles” of the honeycomb.^[4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin anglus, the popular form of angulus (“angle, corner”).^[5][6][4][1] Ciorănescu and Tiktin start directly from the classical form.^[7][2] The Latin word goes back to Proto-Indo-European *h₂engulos.^[1][8]

The change of the first vowel to /u/ is the same as in umbla;^[7] Schuchardt explained it by contamination with Ancient Greek ὄγκος (ónkos, “bulk”), and Ciorănescu compares Sardinian ungrone.^[7] Graur argued against the Latin origin and, like Conev, proposed Old Church Slavonic ѫгълъ (ǫgŭlŭ, “corner”), but Ciorănescu finds this no better on phonetic grounds.^[7] Its Romance cognates include Italian angolo, French angle, Occitan angle and Catalan angle.^[7][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is the place name Unghiul in a document of 1462.^[2] In Romanian texts the word appears in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki (c. 1500–1520) in Psalm 117, „capul unghiului” “the head of the corner”, said of the stone the builders rejected.^[10][2]

Semantic evolution

The first sense is the corner of a building or of a room: a document of 1587 names unghiul morii “the corner of the mill”, and the Bible of 1688 has the wind striking „cele 4 unghiuri ale casii” “the four corners of the house”.^[4][2] The old phrase piatra din capul unghiului “the stone at the head of the corner” meant the cornerstone.^[6] Expressions such as în toate unghiurile “in every corner, everywhere” keep this sense.^[5][6]

The geometric sense, the figure formed by two lines from one point, is quoted by DLR from an old geography book and a work of Molnar.^[4] The figurative sense “point of view” appears in Brătianu: sub același unghi “from the same angle”.^[2][5]

Timeline

• 1462 – the place name Unghiul, the first record.^[2]
• c. 1500–1520 – unghiului in Psalm 117 of the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki.^[10]
• c. 1563–1583 – unghi in the Codicele Voronețean.^[6]
• 1587 – unghiul morii “the corner of the mill” in a document.^[4]
• 1597 – the form înghiu in a document.^[2]
• 1649 – unghiul in Mardarie's Slavonic–Romanian lexicon.^[11]
• 1688 – unghiurile casii “the corners of the house” in the Bucharest Bible.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. An angle: a figure formed by two half-lines from the same point, as in unghi drept “right angle”.^[5][1]
2. A part of an object that forms an angle.^[5]
3. A corner or nook, ungher.^[5][6]
4. (figurative) A point of view.^[5]

Related words

• ungher
• unghiular
• Latin angulus

Usage notes

MDA2 and DLR list two rare homographs: an old verb unghi “to grow nails or hooves”, formed on unghie and found in the Bible of 1688, and a noun unghi, a variant of ughi.^[6][4] Ciorănescu derives ungher “corner” from angulārius, following Tiktin, while Pușcariu and the REW take it from the Latin noun angulāre “corner, cornerstone”.^[12][7]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. unghi
3. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1378
4. ^ a b c d e f Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. unghi
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. 1171
6. ^ 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, 1374
7. ^ a b c d e f 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. unghi
8. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 465
10. ^ 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 117:21
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. unghiul
12. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 464