urcior

urcior¹ jug

Forms

urcior n (plural urcioare)^[1] The eastern form is ulcior, the western urcior.^[2] Regional variants include olcior, ucior, ulgior and ulțior.^[3]

Etymology

The word for the jug is inherited from Latin urceolus (“small pitcher or jug”), the diminutive of urceus (“pitcher”).^{[4][3][5][6][7][1][8]} Its Romance cognates include Italian orciuolo, Old French orçuel and Occitan orsol.^[4][7] It survives south of the Danube: Aromanian ulcior.^[9][10]

The variant ulcior arose by analogy with ulcea according to Tiktin and Candrea, or with oală and ulcică (Tiktin); Ciorănescu thinks dissimilation more likely.^[4][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Psaltirea Scheiană (about 1573–1578) has it at Psalm 21:16: „uscă-se ca urcioru vărtutea mea” “my strength dried up like a jug”, where other psalters have vas, oală and hârb.^[11][6][3]

Semantic evolution

The word has always meant an earthenware jug, often glazed, with a wide belly, a narrow neck and one or two handles, for carrying or keeping water and other liquids.^[11][5] The Slavonic–Romanian lexicons of the 17th century use it to translate Slavonic words for a jug or vessel.^[12] It also came to mean the contents of a jug, and regionally a demijohn, a milk pot or a water jug brought to the table.^[3] A rare sense is a deep spot in a river bed where the water whirls.^[5]

Set phrases include a fi oale și urcioare “to be pots and jugs”, that is, long dead and turned to clay, and the proverb urciorul nu merge de multe ori la apă “the jug does not go often to the water”: one cannot cheat for long.^[13][3]

Timeline

• c. 1573–1578 – urcioru in the Psaltirea Scheiană, Psalm 21:16.^[11][6]
• c. 1660–1670 – in the Slavonic–Romanian lexicon Lex.St.^[12]
• 1688 – in the Bucharest Bible, for example at Mark 7:4.^[14]
• 1870 – Costinescu's dictionary glosses it French cruche.^[15]

Meanings

Noun

1. An earthenware jug or pitcher with a narrow neck and one or two handles, for keeping liquids.^[5][1]
2. The contents of such a jug.^[3][16]
3. (rare) A deep place in a river bed where the water forms whirlpools.^[5]

Word family

• urcioraș

urcior² stye

Forms

urcior n (plural urcioare)^[1] Regional forms are many, among them ulcior, urgior, urdior, ușcior and ustior.^[3][6]

Etymology

The word for the stye is inherited from Latin hordeolus (“stye”), a diminutive of hordeum (“barley”), its shape being compared to a barleycorn.^{[4][5][6][1][2]} Its form was influenced by the word for the jug through paronymic attraction.^[3][11] Tiktin derives urgior of the Banat from the Latin word and the standard form from it after the word for the jug, which he finds more likely than the influence of diminutives in -cior;^[6] ulcior followed the variant of the jug, and ușcior and ustior may lean on ușor “door post”.^[6] Ciorănescu likewise says the sounds show a confusion with the word for the jug.^[4] It survives south of the Danube: Aromanian ulcior.^[17][10] Its Romance cognates include Spanish orzuelo, Italian orzaiuolo and Occitan orzal.^[4][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

MDA2 and DLR date the first record to the Bible of 1688, in the verse where Jerusalem will be wiped out „în ce chip să stinge urciorul” “as the urcior is wiped”; the Bible's index places it at 2 Kings 21:13.^[3][11][18] Tiktin's earliest record is from 1829, an ointment for styes of the eyelids in Piscupescu.^[6]

Semantic evolution

The sense has stayed the same: a small boil at the root of the eyelashes, caused by staphylococci.^[11][5] Folk medicine treated it with charms and remedies;^[6][11] Tiktin quotes the custom of pricking the stye with a grain of barley taken from horse dung and then putting the grain back.^[6][11] Ciorănescu notes that the word is in general use, less so in the Banat.^[4]

Timeline

• 1688 – first recorded, in the Bucharest Bible.^[3][11]
• 1829 – urcioarele pleoapelor “styes of the eyelids” in Piscupescu.^[6][13]
• 1929 – Șăineanu explains the sense from the oval shape of the boil.^[19]

Meanings

Noun

1. A stye, a small boil at the root of the eyelashes.^[5][1]