uragan

Forms

uragan n (plural uragane)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French ouragan.^{[2][3][4][5][6][1]} The DN also compares Spanish huracán, and Scriban names the Spanish word beside the French one.^[7][8] French took the word in the 16th century from the Spanish noun, recorded in 1526 (earlier furacan, 1510–1515), which Spanish had taken from Taíno hurakán, the word of an Indian language of the Caribbean; the present French spelling is recorded from 1640.^[9] Gabinschi counts it among the words shared by the European languages, with Italian uragano and Russian ураган (uragan), all going back through Spanish to the Taíno of Haiti.^[10]

Scriban records a Transylvanian form orcan, made after German Orkan.^[8] The DLR gives it as a now rare synonym.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is from Asachi in 1821, with the sense “violent wind, storm”.^[4] The DLR quotes a newspaper report of 1832 on the terrible storms called uragane in the Antilles, and MDA2 dates the word to the same year.^[5][3]

Semantic evolution

The word named the tropical cyclones of the Caribbean first, and then any very strong, destructive wind, often with torrential rain.^[2][3][8] Figurative uses followed: a violent outbreak of passions, uragan politic “a political storm”,^[8] Eminescu's “storm raised by the crescent”,^[11] Alecsandri's “storm of voices”,^[12] and, in MDA2, adverse circumstances, violent emotion and a very loud noise.^[3] In the 1870 dictionary of Costinescu, Uraganŭ is a violent tempest with whirlwinds, glossed with French ouragan.^[13]

Timeline

• 1821 – first record, in Asachi.^[4]
• 1832 – uragane in a newspaper report on storms in the Antilles.^[5][3]
• 1870 – Uraganŭ in Costinescu's dictionary.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. A hurricane: a fast-moving tropical cyclone.^[2][3][1]
2. (generally) A very strong, destructive wind, often with torrential rain; a furtună, a vijelie.^[2][3]
3. (figurative) A violent outburst of passions or feelings.^[6][3]
4. (figurative) A very great din or noise.^[3]

Related words

• orcan
• French ouragan

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1174
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 1383
4. ^ a b c Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. uragan
5. ^ a b c d Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. uragan
6. ^ a b Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. uragan
7. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. uragan
8. ^ a b c d Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1380
9. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ Gabinschi, Marcu (2001), Dicționar de dublete etimologice ale limbii române, 2nd ed., Chișinău: Litera, p. 178
11. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. uragan
12. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 680
13. ^ a b Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 2, 663