urșinic

Forms

urșinic n (plural urșinice)^[1] Old texts also have orșenic and urșenic: Moxa's chronicle calls the emperor Romanos „născutul în orșenice” “born in the purple”, and Neculce writes of „trei pungi de urșenic” “three velvet purses”.^[2]

Etymology

It is probably borrowed from Byzantine Greek ὀλοσηρικός (olosērikós, “all of silk”), which Tiktin thinks came in indirectly;^[3][2] Ciorănescu compares Italian oloserico.^[3][2] Tiktin notes that the Greek word also occurs in the Slavonic charters of the principalities.^[2] DLR and MDA2 only compare the Italian and Greek words,^[4][5] while DEX and DLRLV call the word of unknown origin.^[6][7] Wiktionary instead derives it, together with the variant urușnic, from Vulgar Latin *holoserinicus (“silken”), built on Latin holosēricus.^[1] Cihac's derivation from Modern Greek εξάμιτος (exámitos, “six-threaded”) Ciorănescu finds less likely.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is a document of 1588 that lists church cloths: „poale de icoane de zarba, pre margine c-urșinicu negru” “icon cloths of brocade, edged with black velvet”.^[2][4] Ciorănescu dates the word to the 16th century.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The word named a costly silk fabric, most probably velvet.^[2] Varlaam's Cazania renders the rich man of Luke 16:19 as one who „se îmbrăca în olofire și în urșinice”, where the Greek has purple and fine linen.^[2][4] Tiktin thinks the occasional sense “purple” arose from a confusion with olofir or because only velvet was dyed purple;^[2] Moxa uses născutul în orșenice for the Greek “Porphyrogenitus”.^[2] The Anonymus Caransebesiensis glosses urshénik with Latin purpura.^[7] The expression născut în urșenic meant “of noble or imperial birth”.^[5]

Scriban gives the sense “satin”, and the clothing made of the fabric was called by the same name.^[8][5] The word fell out of use;^[2][4] Budai-Deleanu's Țiganiada still has it.^[2][4]

Timeline

• 1588 – urșinicu negru “black velvet” in a document.^[2][4]
• 1600–1650 – urșenică in a text printed in Gaster's chrestomathy.^[4]
• 1648 – „Îmbrăcară pre el în urșinic” in the New Testament of Bălgrad.^[4]
• c. 1650–1700 – urshénik “purple” in the Anonymus Caransebesiensis.^[5][7]
• 1678 – „2 părechi perini de urșinic” “2 pairs of velvet pillows” in a document published by Iorga.^[4]
• 1726–1733 – urșinic priced at 30 bani the piece.^[4]
• 1921 – urșinic as a plant name in Maramureș.^[5][9]

Meanings

Noun

1. (obsolete) A costly silk fabric, velvet.^[6][5][1]
2. (obsolete) purple cloth.^[5][7]
3. (obsolete) satin.^[8][5]
4. (obsolete) Clothing made of this fabric.^[5]

Related words

• Italian oloserico

Usage notes

In Maramureș urșinic (masculine) is also a name of the plant Lychnis chalcedonica; the DLR calls it of unknown origin and compares arșinic.^[9][5]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. urșinic
3. ^ 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. urșinic
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. urșinic
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 1395
6. ^ a b DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1177
7. ^ a b c d Costinescu, Mariana; Georgescu, Magdalena; Zgraon, Florentina (1987), Dicționarul limbii române literare vechi (1640–1780): termeni regionali, București: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică, p. 308
8. ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1384
9. ^ a b Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. urșinic 1