cucuruz

Romanian

Etymology

Unknown. Probably of expressive origin ultimately. Perhaps starting from the root coc, with the plural cocuri, with a suffix -(u)ză; cf. buburuz, buburuză, from bob (“grain or bean”), and duduruză. Compare Serbo-Croatian kukuruz, Bulgarian кукуруз (kukuruz), Slovak kukurica, Czech kukuřice, Polish kukurydza, Russian кукуруза (kukuruza), Ottoman Turkish قوقوروز, Albanian kokërr. Some etymologies suggest that the source for the word in many of these other languages was ultimately Romanian; however this remains uncertain. Another possibility is of Turkish and Albanian origin. It is more likely that there is a deeper common root between them, or that the ultimate origin is still undetermined. Some similarities with words in other languages may be seen as well, but it is uncertain whether they are coincidences, share a common root (one proposal by Battisti being an ancient Mediterranean root cuccur), or simply developed out of a similar process of expressive creation: compare Italian cocoruzzo (“pear-shaped peak or summit”), Salentino cuccuruzzo ("heap of stones in a pyramidal shape"), Tarentino cucuruzze (“rounded peak”), Milanese cocorin ("pine cone"), Greek κουκούρι (koukoúri, “heap of earth”), etc.

Noun

cucuruz m (plural cucuruzi)

1. (Transylvania) maize, corn
2. corncob

   Synonym: știulete

3. pine cone or cone of another conifer

Declension

	singular			plural
	indefinite	definite		indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	cucuruz	cucuruzul		cucuruzi	cucuruzii
genitive-dative	cucuruz	cucuruzului		cucuruzi	cucuruzilor
vocative	cucuruzule			cucuruzilor

Synonyms

• (maize, corn): porumb (most common), păpușoi
• (pine cone): con (de brad, pin)

Descendants

• → Ukrainian: кукуру́дза (kukurúdza)