limbã

Forms

limbã f (plural limbi or limbe, definite articulation limba)^[1]

• Plural limbi or limbe.^[2][1]
• Other spellings: LÍMBA, plural límbe, in Papahagi's dictionary;^[3] limbă in Dalametra's and Mihăileanu's Romanian-based spelling;^[4][5] λίμμπᾶ, plural λίμμπι, in Nikolaidis's Greek script, transcribed limbă, límbi.^[6]
• Regional forms: límbă, plural límbe, in the dialect of Metsovo;^[7] límbă in Saramandu's glossary of the Aromanian atlas.^[8]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin lingua (“tongue; language”),^[3][9][1] from Old Latin dingua.^[10][11] De Vaan traces it to Proto-Italic *dn̥χ(u)wā- and Proto-Indo-European *dn̥ǵʰwéh₂s (“tongue”);^[11][1] Wiktionary explains the change of d- to l- by a borrowing from another Italic language or by association with lingō (“to lick”).^[1]

The word is common to the four Eastern Romance languages: Romanian limbă, Megleno-Romanian limbă and Istro-Romanian limbę.^[12][13][14] Further west, the Latin word gave Italian lingua, Logudorese limba, French langue and Spanish lengua.^[15][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Pascu cites the word from Boiagi's grammar of 1813;^[9] Mihăileanu's dictionary of 1901 glosses it “tongue, language”.^[5]

Semantic evolution

Both Latin senses, the organ and the language, were kept.^[16][3] As in Latin, the word also names things shaped like a tongue: a flame, the pointer of a steelyard and the clapper of a bell.^[3][9][4] Papahagi quotes the proverbs bóŭlu s' leágă di coárne și-ómlu di límbă (“the ox is tied by its horns and man by his tongue”) and ómlu límba l-fáţe, límba lu-aspárdze (“his tongue makes a man, his tongue ruins him”).^[3] Papahagi's folk tales have cu limbă di moarte “with one's dying words”.^[17]

Timeline

• 1813 – the word in Boiagi's grammar, as cited by Pascu.^[9]
• 1901 – limbă “tongue, language” in Mihăileanu's dictionary.^[5]
• 1906 – limbă “tongue, speech”, with limbă di cloput “clapper of a bell”, in Dalametra's dictionary.^[4]
• 1909 – λίμμπᾶ (limbă) in Nikolaidis's dictionary.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. The tongue.^[16][3][1]
2. A language; speech.^{[16][3][1][5]}
3. A flame.^[3]
4. The pointer of a steelyard.^[3][9][4]
5. The clapper of a bell.^[3][9][4]
6. (plural) Fish roe.^[9]

Word family

• limbushi
• limbushe
• limbutsescu

Related words

• Romanian limbă

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net), p. 587
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 629
4. ^ a b c d e Dalametra, I. (1906), Dicționar macedo-român, București: Academia Română, p. 119
5. ^ a b c d Mihăileanu, Ștefan (1901), Dicționar macedo-român, București, p. 262
6. ^ a b c Νικολαΐδης, Κωνσταντίνος (1909), Ετυμολογικόν λεξικόν της κουτσοβλαχικής γλώσσης, Αθήνα, p. 261
7. ^ Δασούλας, Φώτης (2013), Το βλαχικό ιδίωμα του Μετσόβου, 2nd ed.
8. ^ Saramandu, Nicolae (2023), Glosar aromân, Fonetică și dialectologie XLII: 103–176, p. 141
9. ^ a b c d e f g 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, 107
10. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ 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
12. ^ Ciorănescu, Alexandru (1958–1966), Diccionario etimológico rumano, La Laguna: Universidad de La Laguna (Romanian ed.: Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române, București: Saeculum, 2001)
13. ^ Pușcariu, Sextil (1905), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der rumänischen Sprache I: Lateinisches Element, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 83
14. ^ Kovačec, August (1998), Istrorumunjsko-hrvatski rječnik (s gramatikom i tekstovima), Pula
15. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
16. ^ a b c Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net)
17. ^ Papahagi, Pericle (1905), Basme aromâne și glosar, București: Academia Română, p. 627