martsu

Forms

martsu m, without plural (the month); n, plural martsã or martsuri (the cord).^[1][2]

• Other spellings: MÁRȚU, plural márță and márțurĭ, in Papahagi's dictionary (the cord);^[3] Márțu (the month) and márțu, plural marţurle (the cord), in Mihăileanu's Romanian-based spelling;^[4] marțu, plural -uri, in Dalametra's;^[5] μάρτσου (mártsu) in Nikolaidis's Greek script.^[6]
• Regional forms: martsu “March” in Weigand's texts;^[7] Marţu in P. Papahagi's tales;^[8] mártsu, plural mártsă, for the cord in the dialect of Metsovo.^[9]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin Mārtius (“(the month) of Mars, March”),^[10][3][2] the adjective of Mārs (“the god Mars”) with the suffix -ius, used as a noun for mēnsis Mārtius.^[2] De Vaan traces the name of the god through the older form Māvors to an earlier Latin form shared with Oscan, and considers a foreign origin of that form possible.^[11] Pascu files both senses, the month and the cord worn in March, under this one word, and for the cord he compares the Bulgarian name of the same custom.^[10]

The Romanian cognate marț is rare, and was used for the month and for the March cord; for the month it has been replaced by martie, from Greek, and the cord is now called mărțișor, a diminutive of marț.^[12][10] The western cognates include Italian marzo, French mars, Spanish marzo and Portuguese março.^[13]

Semantic evolution

From the name of the month the word passed to the charm of the season: a cord of white and red thread twisted together, which girls and young children wear round the neck or the wrist during the first nine days of March.^[14][3] Nikolaidis describes it as a coloured ribbon with a small silver or gold coin that mothers hang on their children's necks on the first of March to guard them against the sun.^[6] When the first swallow is seen, the cord is taken off and thrown onto a rose bush or a bramble,^[4] or onto trees, so that the swallows can weave it into their nests.^[3] Țîrcomnicu adds that it was also tied to the doors of the stables and round the necks of lambs, foals and kids.^[15] Cunia records the saying ca Shcurtul di Martsu, "like February to March", for someone who is close by.^[14]

Timeline

• 1894 – martsu “March” in Weigand's glossary.^[7]
• 1901 – Márțu “March” and márțu “the March cord” in Mihăileanu's dictionary.^[4]
• 1906 – marțu “the March cord” and Mârțu “March” in Dalametra's dictionary.^[5]
• 1925 – Pascu derives both senses from Latin Mārtius.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. March, the third month of the year.^[14][2][10]
2. A cord of twisted white and red thread worn by girls and young children during the first nine days of March, the Romanian mărțișor.^[14][3][2]

Related words

• Romanian marț
• Romanian mărțișor

Usage notes

Cunia heads a third martsu, plural martsuri, a double win at backgammon;^[14] Papahagi derives it from Turkish mars, so it has a separate source.^[3]

References

1. ^ Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net), p. 615
2. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
3. ^ a b c d e f Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 657
4. ^ a b c Mihăileanu, Ștefan (1901), Dicționar macedo-român, București, p. 281
5. ^ a b Dalametra, I. (1906), Dicționar macedo-român, București: Academia Română, p. 127
6. ^ a b Νικολαΐδης, Κωνσταντίνος (1909), Ετυμολογικόν λεξικόν της κουτσοβλαχικής γλώσσης, Αθήνα, p. 283
7. ^ a b Weigand, Gustav (1894), Die Aromunen: ethnographisch-philologisch-historische Untersuchungen, vol. II: Volksliteratur der Aromunen (with a glossary), Leipzig: J. A. Barth, p. 316
8. ^ Papahagi, Pericle (1905), Basme aromâne și glosar, București: Academia Română, p. 634
9. ^ Δασούλας, Φώτης (2013), Το βλαχικό ιδίωμα του Μετσόβου, 2nd ed.
10. ^ a b c d e 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, 114
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. ^ Ciorănescu, Alexandru (1958–1966), Diccionario etimológico rumano, La Laguna: Universidad de La Laguna (Romanian ed.: Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române, București: Saeculum, 2001)
13. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
14. ^ 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)
15. ^ Țîrcomnicu, Emil (2009), Obiceiuri și credințe macedoromâne: dicționar, București