Etymology and origin of the Aromanian word gurã
Forms
gurã f (plural guri or gure, definite articulation gura)[1]
- Plural guri or gure.[2][1] Papahagi gives GÚRĂ, plural gúre and gurĭ.[3]
- Other spellings: gură in Dalametra's Romanian-based spelling;[4] gúră in Mihăileanu;[5] γκούρα (gură, plural gúri) in Nikolaidis's Greek script;[6] Γκούρα in Kavalliotis's word list, which Meyer reads gurä.[7]
- Regional forms: g’urā, plural gur’, in Turia;[8] gúră, plural gúre, in Metsovo.[9]
Etymology
It is inherited from Latin gula (“gullet, throat”),[3][10][1][6] which de Vaan traces to Proto-Italic *gulā; he rejects the traditional derivation from Proto-Indo-European *gʷl-h₂- on phonetic grounds and thinks the root may be imitative.[11]
The word is common to the four Eastern Romance languages, Romanian gură, Megleno-Romanian gură and Istro-Romanian gure, all with the sense mouth.[12][13] Candrea and Densusianu note that this sense is shared by Albanian and by some dialects of French and Occitan;[13] the western descendants include Italian gola, French gueule and Spanish gola.[14]
Earliest recorded meaning
The first record is in Kavalliotis's word list of 1770, where Γκούρα stands for the mouth.[7]
Semantic evolution
From the Latin throat, the word came to mean the mouth of people and animals, then the voice and what one says: Dalametra records gură dulți (“sweet mouth”, affable) and di gură-gură (“from mouth to mouth”).[4] It also counts persons, as in Mihăileanu's suntu şapte gúri (“there are seven mouths”, seven people), and names openings, such as gură di cămeaşă, the neck of a shirt.[5] Papahagi's further senses include life, a pretext, a relationship, to slander, to be hungry and to graze.[3] In Metsovo it also means a way of speaking, food and a language.[9]
Timeline
- 1770 – Γκούρα “mouth” in Kavalliotis's word list.[7]
- 1901 – gúră “mouth; person; opening” in Mihăileanu's dictionary.[5]
- 1906 – gură “mouth, speech” in Dalametra's dictionary.[4]
- 1909 – γκούρα in Nikolaidis's dictionary.[6]
Meanings
Noun
- The mouth.[2][3][1]
- The mouth of an animal.[2][3]
- (figurative) voice; speech, words.[2][3][4]
- (figurative) A person, a member of a family.[3][5]
- An opening, such as the mouth of a bag or the neck of a shirt.[2][5][9]
- (Metsovo) A way of speaking; food; a language.[9]
Related words
- Romanian gură
References
- ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ a b c d e Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net), p. 521
- ^ a b c d e f g Papahagi, Tache (1974), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, 2nd augmented ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. 603
- ^ a b c d Dalametra, I. (1906), Dicționar macedo-român, București: Academia Română, p. 103
- ^ a b c d e Mihăileanu, Ștefan (1901), Dicționar macedo-român, București, p. 225
- ^ a b c Νικολαΐδης, Κωνσταντίνος (1909), Ετυμολογικόν λεξικόν της κουτσοβλαχικής γλώσσης, Αθήνα, p. 145
- ^ a b c Meyer, Gustav (1895), Albanesische Studien IV: Das griechisch-südrumänisch-albanesische Wörterverzeichnis des Kavalliotis, Sitzungsberichte der Kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften in Wien, phil.-hist. Classe 132, p. 110
- ^ Бара, Мариана; Каль, Теде; Соболев, Андрей Н. (2005), Южноарумынский говор села Турия (Малый диалектологический атлас балканских языков, серия монографий 1), p. 335
- ^ a b c d Δασούλας, Φώτης (2013), Το βλαχικό ιδίωμα του Μετσόβου, 2nd ed.
- ^ 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, 96
- ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
- ^ Pușcariu, Sextil (1905), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der rumänischen Sprache I: Lateinisches Element, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 64
- ^ a b Candrea, I.-A.; Densusianu, Ov. (1907–1914), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române: elementele latine (A–Putea), București
- ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
Related etymologies
Cite this entry
“Gurã.” Etymologically, 26 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/rup/gur%C3%A3. Accessed 27 Oct. 2026.
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