unghie

Forms

unghie f (plural unghii)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *ungla, the syncopated form of Latin ungula (“hoof, claw, talon”).^[1][2][3][4] The Latin word is formed on unguis (“fingernail, talon”), although it is not a diminutive in meaning; the root is Proto-Indo-European *h₃negʰ-.^[1]

The word survives in all four branches: Aromanian unglje, Megleno-Romanian ungľă and Istro-Romanian ungľă.^[3][5][1] Its Romance cognates include Dalmatian yongla, Italian unghia, French ongle, Occitan ongla, Catalan ungla, Spanish uña and Portuguese unha.^[3][6] Ciorănescu notes that the word is used throughout the Romanian area.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

MDA2 dates the word to the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki of the early 16th century.^[4] Tiktin cites the Psaltirea Scheiană, and the 1688 Bible speaks of every beast with a cloven hoof, „tot dobitocul cu unghe îngemănată”.^[7][8]

Semantic evolution

Old texts use the word for the human nail, an animal's hoof and the claw of a beast or bird alike.^[7][9] The modern standard language keeps it for the human nail and the horny tip of an animal's toe, a claw.^[2] The DLR quotes a text of 1600–1625 in Gaster's chrestomathy about a wild man from the north “with nails a cubit long”.^[9]

Many figurative phrases grew from it: a fi unghie și carne “to be inseparable friends”, a avea unghiile lungi “to be light-fingered”, a lua în unghii “to tear someone to pieces”.^[4][7] Plant names are formed with it as well: unghia-găii (Astragalus glycyphyllos) and unghia-păsării (Viola declinata).^[2][7]

Timeline

• c. 1500-1520 – the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki, MDA2's first record.^[4]
• c. 1573-1578 – unghie in the Psaltirea Scheiană.^[8][7]
• 1600-1625 – unghile de un cot “nails a cubit long” in a text of Gaster's chrestomathy.^[9]
• 1652 – the homograph unghie “ounce”, from Byzantine Greek.^[4][9]
• 1688 – unghe “hoof” in the Bucharest Bible.^[7]
• 1825 – the Lexicon de la Buda glosses it with Latin unguis and Hungarian köröm.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. A nail: the horny plate on the top of the last joint of a finger or toe.^[2][1]
2. The horny tip of an animal's or bird's toe; a claw; a hoof.^[2][3]
3. In plant names: unghia-găii or unghia-găinii (Astragalus glycyphyllos), unghia-păsării (Viola declinata).^[2]
4. (fishing) Each of the two levers for raising and lowering the basket of a fish weir.^[2]

Word family

• unghișoară
• unghios
• unghiuță

Related words

• gheară
• Aromanian unglje
• Latin ungula

Usage notes

A second word unghie (plural unghii), now obsolete, meant “ounce”: it is Byzantine Greek οὐγγία (oungía), recorded from 1652, and is a doublet of uncie, which came from Latin in the 19th century.^[9][4][3] Dosoftei's lives of the saints describe a daily ration of three unghii of bread, “that is, 24 drams”.^[7] Phrases with the nail word include a-și arăta unghiile “to turn aggressive” and a-și pune unghia în gât “to do anything to reach one's aim”.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f 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. 1171
3. ^ 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. unghie
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, 1375
5. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1085
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 9071
7. ^ a b c d e f g Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. unghie
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 68:36
9. ^ a b c d e Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. unghie
10. ^ 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. 734