vâsc

Forms

vâsc m (uncountable)^[1] Tiktin and Scriban record a Moldavian form văsc;^[2][3][4] MDA2 lists the regional variants ovăsc, vască, vâscu and vâcs.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin viscum (“mistletoe; birdlime made from its berries”).^{[5][4][6][2][1]} It survives south of the Danube as well: Aromanian vãscu.^[7][8] Wikționar lists the Romance cognates Italian vischio, French gui, Catalan vesc, Occitan vesc, Portuguese visco and Sardinian viscu.^[9]

De Vaan sees in the Latin word either an Indo-European word or a European loanword for the mistletoe or another fruit-bearing tree, and compares Ancient Greek ἰξός (ixós, “mistletoe, birdlime”).^[10] Wiktionary gives a possible Proto-Indo-European *weyḱs- and adds that the old link with vīrus is unlikely.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to about 1660, from a source he cites as Staicu.^[2] The 17th-century Slavonic–Romanian lexicons have the articled form vâscul from 1664 on.^[11] MDA2's first record is Cantemir's Istoria ieroglifică (1705).^[4]

Semantic evolution

Two senses go back to the Latin: the plant and the clei made from its berries to catch birds.^[10][2] The second is now obsolete;^[4][3] Scriban kept it apart as a neuter noun with the plural vâscuri.^[4][3] A Mărgăritare says that a bird caught on rods smeared with vâsc cannot escape.^[2] Set phrases name other plants: vâsc-de-stejar is the oak-growing Loranthus europaeus, vâsc-de-apă two water milfoils, and in Maramureș vâsc-de-munte a rhododendron.^[4][5] In folk custom the young men among the Moți wear mistletoe and ivy in their caps when they go carolling at Christmas, and folk medicine in Maramureș ascribes magic powers to it.^[2][12]

Timeline

• c. 1660 – the first record, in a source Tiktin cites as Staicu.^[2]
• 1664 – vâscul in a Slavonic–Romanian lexicon.^[11]
• 1705 – vâsc in Cantemir's Istoria ieroglifică.^[4]
• 1801 – văsc in Klein's dictionary, glossed Latin viscus.^[13]
• 1825 – the Lexicon of Buda names Loranthus europaeus and birdlime under vâsc.^[14]

Meanings

Noun

1. mistletoe (Viscum album): an evergreen semi-parasitic shrub growing on the branches of trees, with leathery leaves and white or yellowish sticky berries, used in medicine.^[5][4][1]
2. In vâsc-de-stejar: the oak mistletoe (Loranthus europaeus), with deciduous leaves and yellow berries; mărgăritar.^[5][4]
3. In vâsc-de-apă: water milfoil (Myriophyllum).^[4]
4. (obsolete) birdlime made from mistletoe berries.^[4][2]

Related words

• vâscos
• Aromanian vãscu
• Latin viscum

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. vâsc
3. ^ a b c d Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1416
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 1442
5. ^ a b c d DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1189
6. ^ Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. vîsc
7. ^ Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net), p. 1080
8. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1118
9. ^ Wikționar (Romanian Wiktionary), ro.wiktionary.org
10. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
11. ^ a b 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. vîscul
12. ^ Ștef, Dorin (2011), Dicționar de regionalisme și arhaisme din Maramureș, Baia Mare: Ethnologica, p. s.v. vâsc
13. ^ 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. 473
14. ^ 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. 758