voma

Forms

voma (third-person singular present vomează, past participle vomat), first conjugation^[1] Older texts conjugate it like the Latin verb, with a present vom: „de multe ori vom, adică boresc” “they often vomit, that is, throw up”.^[2] The Transylvanian writers of the early 19th century also had the infinitive voame: „a voame defăimări” “to spew slanders” (Bojincă).^[2] Petru Maior used the variant vomi: „a vomi veninul urgiei sale” “to spew the venom of his wrath”.^[2][3]

Etymology

Its origin is disputed.^[4][5] According to Tiktin and the DLR, it is inherited from Latin vomō (“to vomit”), and DEXI and NODEX agree.^{[4][2][6][7][1]} The older forms of the third conjugation, an infinitive voame and its present forms, continue the Latin verb's inflection.^[2][3] The verb also exists south of the Danube: Aromanian voamire and Megleno-Romanian vom.^[8][9][10] The Latin verb goes back to Proto-Indo-European *wemh₁- (“to vomit”).^[11][1]

DEX and the dictionary of French loanwords take the modern verb to be borrowed from French vomir, with the Latin verb only compared.^[5][12] MDA2 and the neologism dictionaries add Italian vomire.^[3][13][14]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is a Latin–Romanian glossary of about 1670; the DLR cites the same glossary.^[4][2] MDA2 dates it from Budai-Deleanu's lexicon of 1818.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Tiktin marks the verb as a word of the Banat, where a folk tale has a horse that „voma bani” “vomited money”.^[4][2] In the first half of the 19th century it was a medical word: a book on diet says that after much food or drink „vomăm mâncările” “we vomit the food”.^[2] The Transylvanian scholars used it figuratively for spewing venom or slander.^[2] In the regional form vomi it is also said of waters that overflow and of mortar that swells and crumbles.^[3] Today it is a rare synonym of vomita.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 1670 – the first record, in a Latin–Romanian glossary.^[4]
• 1818 – voma in Budai-Deleanu's lexicon.^[3]
• early 19th century – vomi and voame “to spew” in Maior and Bojincă.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To vomit, to throw up; a synonym of vomita and borî.^[5][3][1]
2. (regional, in the form vomi) Of waters, to overflow; of badly laid mortar, to swell and crumble.^[3]

Related words

• vomita
• vomă
• Aromanian voamire

Usage notes

The form voma is also the articled singular of the noun vomă “vomit”.^[5]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. voma
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 1510
4. ^ 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. voma
5. ^ a b c d DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1206
6. ^ Dima, Eugenia (coord.) (2007), Dicționar explicativ ilustrat al limbii române, Chișinău: Arc / Gunivas, p. s.v. voma
7. ^ a b Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. voma
8. ^ 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, 187
9. ^ Capidan, Theodor (1935), Meglenoromânii III: Dicționar meglenoromân, București: Academia Română, p. 330
10. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 9449
11. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
12. ^ Costăchescu, Adriana; Dincă, Daniela; Dragoste, Ramona; Popescu, Mihaela; Scurtu, Gabriela (2009–2010), Dicționar de împrumuturi lexicale din limba franceză (DILF), 2 vols., Craiova: Universitaria, p. s.v. voma
13. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. voma
14. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. voma