ustura

Forms

ustura (third-person singular present ustură, past participle usturat, third-person subjunctive usture) 1st conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin ustulō (“to scorch, singe”).^{[2][3][4][5][6][1][7]} The Latin verb is a diminutive formation on ūrō (“to burn”), “to burn a little”.^[8][9] It also survives as Aromanian ustur and Istro-Romanian usturu.^[2][10]

The Latin verb has few descendants in Romance:^[11] Italian ustolare “to long for food”, a Tuscan word, Old French usler and Occitan usclar.^[2][7][9] French brûler continues the Old French verb with an initial /br/ of disputed origin.^[11][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is in Dosoftei's verse Psalter of 1673.^[6] MDA2 dates it from the Bucharest Bible of 1688, where Tobit's eyes are rubbed with gall: „Și deaca-l usturară, frecă ochii lui” “and when they smarted, he rubbed his eyes”.^[5][6][4]

Semantic evolution

The verb names a stinging or burning pain: from smoke in the eyes, nettles, a scratch or a cold wind.^[4][6] The person who feels it is the object (mă ustură “it stings me”), and the sore part is the subject.^[5][12] Of spices, drinks and smells it means “to bite” the tongue or the nose.^[5]

The figurative pain is moral: a-l ustura inima “to be pained at heart”, and in jest a-l ustura spatele “to be asking for a beating”.^[5][3] Regional a-l ustura călcâiele means “to be itching to leave”.^[5] The name of garlic, usturoi, is a derivative of the verb.^[2]

Timeline

• 1673 – usturară in Dosoftei's verse Psalter.^[6]
• 1688 – usturară in the Bucharest Bible (Tobit 11:8).^[5][13]
• 1869 – ustura among the Romanian equivalents of Hungarian csíp “to sting” in Barițiu's dictionary.^[14]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To sting, to smart: to cause a painful pricking or burning feeling; the person or body part that feels it is the object: Mă ustură pielea de la soare.^[3][5][1]
2. (intransitive) Of spices, drinks or smells: to bite the tongue or the nose.^[5]
3. (figurative) To hurt someone physically or morally;^[3][15] a-l ustura inima “to be pained at heart”.^[3][15]

Word family

• usturător
• usturătură
• usturime
• usturos
• usturoi
• usturoiță

Related words

• Latin ustulō

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. ustura
3. ^ a b c d e DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1178
4. ^ a b c Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. ustura
5. ^ 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, 1398
6. ^ 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. ustura
7. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 9097
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
10. ^ Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net), p. 1070
11. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
12. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 4, 603
13. ^ Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Tovit 11:8
14. ^ Barițiu, George (1869), Dictionariu unguresc-romanescu, Brașov, p. 82
15. ^ a b Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. ustura