vânătoare

Forms

vânătoare f (plural vânători)^[1] MDA2 records the regional variant vânătoaie.^[2]

Etymology

Most dictionaries take it as inherited from Latin vēnātōria (“(the art) of hunting”), the feminine of vēnātōrius (“of hunters, hunting”) used as a noun for “the art of hunting”.^{[3][2][4][5][1][6]} The Latin adjective is formed on vēnor (“to hunt”).^[6][1]

Ciorănescu and Tiktin explain it instead as a derivative from Romanian vâna (“to hunt”), the verb that continues the Latin one.^[7][8] Ciorănescu gives Megleno-Romanian vănătoari as the Megleno-Romanian form, and Capidan derives that word from the Megleno-Romanian verb for “to hunt”.^[7][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is in Coresi's Tetraevanghel of 1561, in Luke 5:4, where Jesus tells Simon to let down the nets for a catch: there the word means a catch of fish.^[8] MDA2 dates it from Coresi's Carte de învățătură of 1581.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Tiktin's first record, from the Gospel of Luke, has vânătoare in the sense “a catch of fish”, and Ciorănescu still lists “fishing” among the senses of the family.^[8][7] The main sense, the pursuit of wild animals, is well recorded from the 17th century: Miron Costin tells of a ruler who went out hunting in the fields, and Cantemir and the chronicler Radu Popescu also use it.^[4] Dosoftei's verse psalter has it figuratively, of the wicked who lay a snare for the righteous.^[8]

In the modern language the word also means a determined pursuit of a person, for example by the police.^[3][10] In military language avion de vânătoare is a fighter plane.^[2]

Timeline

• 1561 – vânătoare “a catch of fish” in Coresi's Tetraevanghel (Luke 5:4).^[8]
• 1581 – Coresi's Carte de învățătură.^[2]
• 1673 – vânătoare in Dosoftei's verse psalter.^[8]
• 1678 – in a Slavonic–Romanian lexicon, glossing Slavonic words for hunting.^[11]
• 1688 – in the Bucharest Bible.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. hunting, a hunt: the pursuit of wild animals or birds to catch or kill them, and the game taken.^[3][2][1]
2. The occupation of a hunter.^[2]
3. (figurative) A relentless pursuit of a person, especially by the police: o vânătoare de oameni.^[3][13]

Related words

• vâna
• vânător
• vânat
• Latin vēnor

Usage notes

Set phrases include vânătoare închisă and vânătoare deschisă, the closed and open seasons, and corn de vânătoare “hunting horn”.^[2] Avion de vânătoare is a fighter aircraft.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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, 1433
3. ^ a b c d DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1187
4. ^ a b Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. vînătoare
5. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1413
6. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c 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. vîna
8. ^ a b c d e f Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. vânătoáre
9. ^ Capidan, Theodor (1935), Meglenoromânii III: Dicționar meglenoromân, București: Academia Română, p. 322
10. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 4, 681
11. ^ Ungureanu, Mădălina; Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Moruz, Alexandru (eds.), eRomLex: The First Romanian Bilingual Dictionaries (17th century), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. s.v. vînătoare
12. ^ Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Naum 2:13
13. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. vânătoare