urdoare

Forms

urdoare f (plural urdori)^[1]

Etymology

It is probably inherited from Vulgar Latin *horridor (“filth”), a noun reconstructed from horridus (“bristly, rough”), as Pușcariu, the REW, Tiktin, Scriban and DEX explain it.^{[2][3][4][5][6]} The REW sets beside it the Romance words with another suffix, Italian ordura, Old French ordure and Occitan ordura “filth”.^[4] French ordure is a derivative of the Old French adjective ord (“filthy”), which continues the same Latin adjective.^[7][1]

Ciorănescu finds the derivation unconvincing, since the French and Italian words cannot continue the same Latin form.^[2] He leans towards Latin odōrem (“smell”) with an added /r/: the first sense would have been “stench”, later confused with “dirt”.^[2] Wiktionary, which calls the origin unknown, also thinks this the likelier view.^[1] Pușcariu later proposed Vulgar Latin *udor, which Ciorănescu finds unclear.^[2]

The Academy's DLR and MDA2 explain it instead as a Romanian formation, from Romanian urdă + -oare, from the name of the whey cheese.^[8][9] Șăineanu had already taken it this way, literally “the fat of the eye”, like German Augenbutter “eye butter”.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is the personal name Urdorea in a Slavonic–Romanian document of 1505.^[3] MDA2's first record of the noun is in Dosoftei's Molitvelnic, in a figurative use for the nothingness of earthly things: „Toate-s cenușe, toate urdoare, toate umbră” “All is ashes, all is eye-gum, all is shadow”.^[8][9]

Semantic evolution

The usual sense is the yellowish matter that gathers on the edges of the eyelids, mostly in sleep, and the word is used mostly in the plural, urdori.^[6][8] Klein's dictionary of 1801 glossed it with Latin lippitudo “bleariness”,^[11] and the Lexicon de la Buda of 1825 explained it as the running of the eyes, with German Augentriefen.^[12] Dosoftei's figurative use stayed rare.^[8] The derivative urduros “having gummy eyes” widened to “unwashed, dirty”.^[6]

Timeline

• 1505 – Urdorea, a personal name in a Slavonic–Romanian document.^[3]
• 1801 – urdoare glossed with Latin lippitudo in Klein's dictionary.^[11]
• 1825 – urdoare “running of the eyes” in the Lexicon de la Buda.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. (popular, mostly in the plural) sleep in the eyes, rheum: the yellowish matter that dries on the edges of the eyelids, mostly during sleep.^[6][9][1]
2. Bleariness, lippitude.^[1]
3. (obsolete, rare, figurative) Something worthless, used of the nothingness of earthly things.^[8]

Word family

• urduros

Related words

• urdă

Usage notes

Regional variants include uldoare, recorded by Cihac, and the plurals huldori, hurdori and ordori.^[3][9] In Maramureș the form is ulduoare.^[13]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. urdoare
3. ^ a b c d Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. urdoare
4. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 4187
5. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1381
6. ^ a b c d DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1175
7. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ 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. urdoare
9. ^ a b c d Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 1386
10. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 680
11. ^ a b Gáldi, László (ed.) (1944), Samuel Klein: Dictionarium valachico-latinum. Primul dicționar al limbii române, Budapest: Királyi Magyar Pázmány Péter Tudományegyetemi Román Intézet (Klein's dictionary of 1801, with Gáldi's etymological study), p. 465
12. ^ a b 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. 736
13. ^ Ștef, Dorin (2011), Dicționar de regionalisme și arhaisme din Maramureș, Baia Mare: Ethnologica, p. s.v. urdoare