Etymologically

Etymology and origin of the Aromanian word gurã

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
1770 Kavalliotis's Protopeiria
Inherited from
Latin gula
Ultimate origin
Latin gula
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin gula
Aromanian gurã
French gueule
Italian gola

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

  1. The mouth.[2][3][1]
  2. The mouth of an animal.[2][3]
  3. (figurative) voice; speech, words.[2][3][4]
  4. (figurative) A person, a member of a family.[3][5]
  5. An opening, such as the mouth of a bag or the neck of a shirt.[2][5][9]
  6. (Metsovo) A way of speaking; food; a language.[9]
  • Romanian gură

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ 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
  3. ^ 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
  4. ^ a b c d Dalametra, I. (1906), Dicționar macedo-român, București: Academia Română, p. 103
  5. ^ a b c d e Mihăileanu, Ștefan (1901), Dicționar macedo-român, București, p. 225
  6. ^ a b c Νικολαΐδης, Κωνσταντίνος (1909), Ετυμολογικόν λεξικόν της κουτσοβλαχικής γλώσσης, Αθήνα, p. 145
  7. ^ 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
  8. ^ Бара, Мариана; Каль, Теде; Соболев, Андрей Н. (2005), Южноарумынский говор села Турия (Малый диалектологический атлас балканских языков, серия монографий 1), p. 335
  9. ^ a b c d Δασούλας, Φώτης (2013), Το βλαχικό ιδίωμα του Μετσόβου, 2nd ed.
  10. ^ 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
  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. ^ Pușcariu, Sextil (1905), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der rumänischen Sprache I: Lateinisches Element, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 64
  13. ^ a b Candrea, I.-A.; Densusianu, Ov. (1907–1914), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române: elementele latine (A–Putea), București
  14. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter

Related etymologies

  • featã · also from Latin
  • cu · also from Latin
  • cã · also from Latin
  • tu · also from Latin
  • shi · also from Latin
  • di · also from Latin
  • am · also from Latin
  • yin · also from Latin
Cite this entry

“Gurã.” Etymologically, 26 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/rup/gur%C3%A3. Accessed 27 Oct. 2026.

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