unt

Forms

unt n (plural unturi)^[1] The plural unturi is rare.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin ūnctum (“ointment; rich food”), the noun use of the neuter of ūnctus (“anointed”), from ungō (“to anoint”).^{[4][2][3][5][1]} Scriban explains the form through an older stage with /mt/, the one Aromanian keeps.^[6]

The word survives in all four branches: Aromanian umtu, Megleno-Romanian unt and Istro-Romanian unt.^[4][7][8] The Romance cognates Italian unto, Spanish unto, Portuguese unto, Occitan onch, Old French oint and Catalan unt mean “fat, grease”; only the dialect of Belluno shares the Romanian sense “butter”.^[4][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

MDA2's first record is the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki, of the early 16th century.^[2][10] The Psaltirea Scheiană has „Muiară-se cuventele lor mai vârtosu de untulu” “their words were softer than oil”.^[11] A place name Dealul Untului “Butter Hill” is recorded in 1522.^[12]

Semantic evolution

Old Romanian used unt for oil as well as butter: the Psaltirea Scheiană has „Uns-ai cu untu capul mieu” “thou anointest my head with oil”, and Tiktin notes that unt for oil needed a qualifier so as not to be read as butter.^[12][13] The compound untdelemn “olive oil”, literally “oil of the tree”, preserves that sense.^[4][9] Butter is attested from the 16th century on, as in putine de unt “butter churns” in a document of 1588.^[11]

Later senses are a solid vegetable fat (unt de cacao) and plant names such as untul-vacii (Orchis morio) and untișor (Ranunculus ficaria).^[3][12] Phrases include ca untul “easily” and a scoate untul din cineva “to wear someone out”.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 1500-1520 – untul in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki, the first record.^[2][11][10]
• 1522 – the place name Dealul Untului.^[12]
• 1570 – unt in Coresi's psalter.^[14]
• 1588 – putine de unt “butter churns” in a document.^[11]
• 1649 – in Mardarie's lexicon, for Slavonic words for oil and butter.^[15]
• 1688 – unt de vaci “cow's butter” in the Bucharest Bible.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. butter: the solid fat obtained from cream or milk and eaten as food.^[3][2][1]
2. A solid fat from the seeds or kernels of some tropical plants: unt de cacao “cocoa butter”.^[3]
3. (dated) oil for cooking or cosmetics: unt de migdale “almond oil”.^[12][6]
4. In the compound untul-vacii, a plant with lilac or purple flowers, green-winged orchid (Orchis morio).^[3]

Word family

• untdelemn
• untișor
• untos

Related words

• unge
• untură
• Aromanian umtu

Usage notes

A regional interjection unt, usually repeated, imitates the call of the pigeon; it is onomatopoeic and not related.^[11][2] Phrases: ca untul “without effort”, a bate apa-n piuă să se aleagă untul “to work in vain”.^[3][16]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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, 1379
3. ^ 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. 1173
4. ^ a b c d 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. unt
5. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1, 1380
7. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1083
8. ^ Popovici, Iosif (1909), Dialectele romîne din Istria II: texte și glosar, Halle a. S., p. 162
9. ^ a b Pușcariu, Sextil (1905), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der rumänischen Sprache I: Lateinisches Element, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 169
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 108:17
11. ^ 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. unt
12. ^ 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. unt
13. ^ Gaster, M. (1891), Chrestomatie română: texte tipărite și manuscrise (sec. XVI–XIX), dialectale și populare, cu o introducere, gramatică și un glosar româno-francez, vol. II, Leipzig: Brockhaus / București: Socec, p. s.v. unt
14. ^ 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 22:7
15. ^ 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. unt
16. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 4, 585