vânt

Forms

vânt n (plural vânturi)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin ventus (“wind”).^{[2][3][4][5][6][1]} The Latin word goes back to Proto-Indo-European *h₂wéh₁n̥ts, from the root *h₂weh₁- (“to blow”).^[1][7]

The word survives in all four branches: Aromanian vimtu, Megleno-Romanian vint and Istro-Romanian vintu.^{[2][8][9][10][11][12]} Its Romance cognates include Italian vento, French vent, Catalan vent, Spanish viento and Portuguese vento.^[2][4]

The verb vântura “to winnow” is either a Romanian derivative or ventilō, and Ciorănescu also lists zvânta “to air, dry in the wind” among the derivatives.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is a Slavonic–Romanian document of 1527.^[13] The Psaltirea Hurmuzaki of the early 16th century has vîntul and vîntului (Psalms 1:4, 17:12), and MDA2 cites the Codicele Voronețean.^[14][5]

Semantic evolution

Besides the moving air, the word meant the air and the open sky: în vânt “into the air”, and figuratively “in vain”.^[15][2] Swiftness is ca vântul “like the wind”, and Tiktin quotes the folk-tale horse that asks whether it should fly like the wind or like thought.^[13][15] A face vânt means to push or throw, a sense Ciorănescu lists as “impulse, shove”.^[15][2]

Poverty is pictured as the wind blowing in one's pockets, and a vedea dincotro bate vântul is to see which way the wind blows.^[15] Folk belief in harmful winds lies behind vântui “to drive mad”, and vântoasă means both a gale and a ghost or fairy.^[2]

Timeline

• 1527 – in a Slavonic–Romanian document, the first record.^[13]
• early 16th century – vîntul in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki (Psalm 1:4).^[14]
• c. 1563–1583 – in the Codicele Voronețean.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. wind, a horizontal movement of a mass of air caused by differences in pressure.^[15][5][1]
2. Air, the open sky;^[15] în vânt “into the air”, figuratively “in vain”.^[15]
3. An artificial current of air, as from a fan.^[15]
4. In a face vânt, a push or impulse given to something.^[15][2]
5. (astronomy) vânt solar, the solar wind.^[15]

Word family

• vântos
• vântoasă
• vântura
• vânturător
• vânturătoare
• vântură-lume
• zvânta

Related words

• Latin ventus

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. vînt
3. ^ Pușcariu, Sextil (1905), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der rumänischen Sprache I: Lateinisches Element, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 177
4. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 9212
5. ^ 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, 1434
6. ^ Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. vînt
7. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
8. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1110
9. ^ Pascu, Giorge (1925), Dictionnaire étymologique macédoroumain, 2 vols. (I: Les éléments latins et romans; II: Les éléments grecs, turcs, slaves, albanais, germaniques, magyars, néologismes, créations immédiates, obscurs), Iași: Cultura Națională, p. 1, 184
10. ^ Capidan, Theodor (1935), Meglenoromânii III: Dicționar meglenoromân, București: Academia Română, p. 327
11. ^ Byhan, Arthur (1899), Istrorumänisches Glossar, Sechster Jahresbericht des Instituts für rumänische Sprache zu Leipzig: 174–366, p. 381
12. ^ Popovici, Iosif (1909), Dialectele romîne din Istria II: texte și glosar, Halle a. S., p. 164
13. ^ 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. vânt
14. ^ a b Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Ungureanu, Mădălina; Moruz, Alexandru et al., roPsalt: Re-evaluating the Sixteenth Century Romanian Psalters (aligned corpus), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. Ps 1:4
15. ^ a b c d e f g h i j DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1188