Etymologically
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manã

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manã1 mother

Forms

manã f (plural mane)[1]

  • Other spellings: MANĂ, plural máne, in Papahagi's dictionary;[1] mană, plural mane, in Pascu's sources.[2] Cunia refers it to mumã.[3]
  • Regional forms: Mană in Epirus, in P. Papahagi's tales;[4] m’anā or m’ano in Turia, known but not used as the children's word for their mother, beside d’adā and mitmā.[5]

Etymology

The word for mother is borrowed from Modern Greek μάννα (mánna, “mother”),[1][2] a Medieval Greek word[6] that Babiniotis explains as a dissimilated form of Ancient Greek μάμμη (mámmē, “mother”), a word of the Hellenistic period that later meant grandmother or nurse.[7] The modern spelling is μάνα (mána).[8] The usual Aromanian word is mumã, to which Cunia refers this one, and Papahagi names dadã as a synonym.[3][1]

Semantic evolution

Papahagi quotes it from a tale: erá un tátă ș' ună mánă (“there was a father and a mother”).[1] P. Papahagi's glossary marks it as the word of Epirus,[4] and in Turia it is known only passively as a child's word.[5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (regional) mother.[1][2][4]

manã2 manna; edible lichen

Forms

manã f[9]

  • Papahagi and Cunia give no certain plural.[1][10]
  • Other spellings: MANA in Papahagi's dictionary;[1] mánă in Mihăileanu's Romanian-based spelling;[11] μάννα (mánna) in Nikolaidis's Greek script.[12]

Etymology

The word for manna and blight is borrowed from Modern Greek μάννα (mánna, “manna”),[1][9] which goes back through Ancient Greek μάννα (mánna) of the Hellenistic Greek Bible[13][6] to Biblical Hebrew מָן (mān, “manna”).[9] Babiniotis connects the Hebrew word with the question what is this?, which the Israelites asked when they first saw the food fall from the sky (Exodus 16.15).[13] Daco-Romanian mană has the same Greek source, recorded from the 17th century and partly taken through Bulgarian.[14]

Semantic evolution

Aromanian keeps the biblical sense: Papahagi quotes síngur Dumnidzăŭ li hrăneá cu mánă (“God himself fed them with manna”) from a manuscript.[1] From the food that falls from the sky the word came to mean things that settle on the fields: an edible lichen that the wind carries far, mist, and a blight of grain and vegetables that looks like black ash.[10][9] Papahagi has tu cîmpu si-alăsă mánă și árse ayín'ile (“mist settled on the field and burnt the vineyards”),[1] and Mihăileanu dede mánă ş' árse túte viile (“manna fell and burnt all the vineyards”).[11] Daco-Romanian mană has the senses of edible lichen and of a mildew of the vine as well.[14]

Meanings

Noun

  1. manna, the food sent to the Israelites in the desert.[1][12]
  2. An edible lichen that grows on rocks.[10][9]
  3. fog, mist.[10][1][9]
  4. A blight of grain, vines and vegetables.[10][11][9]
  • Romanian mană

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Papahagi, Tache (1974), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, 2nd augmented ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. 767
  2. ^ a b c 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. 2, 60
  3. ^ a b Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net), p. 610
  4. ^ a b c Papahagi, Pericle (1905), Basme aromâne și glosar, București: Academia Română, p. 634
  5. ^ a b Бара, Мариана; Каль, Теде; Соболев, Андрей Н. (2005), Южноарумынский говор села Турия (Малый диалектологический атлас балканских языков, серия монографий 1), p. 356
  6. ^ a b Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
  7. ^ Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας, p. 873
  8. ^ Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
  9. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  10. ^ 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. 611
  11. ^ a b c Mihăileanu, Ștefan (1901), Dicționar macedo-român, București, p. 276
  12. ^ a b Νικολαΐδης, Κωνσταντίνος (1909), Ετυμολογικόν λεξικόν της κουτσοβλαχικής γλώσσης, Αθήνα, p. 278
  13. ^ a b Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας, p. 874
  14. ^ a b Ciorănescu, Alexandru (1958–1966), Diccionario etimológico rumano, La Laguna: Universidad de La Laguna (Romanian ed.: Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române, București: Saeculum, 2001)