"-ul" meaning in Romanian

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "ro",
        "2": "la-vul",
        "3": "",
        "4": "*illu"
      },
      "expansion": "Vulgar Latin *illu",
      "name": "inh"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "ro",
        "2": "la",
        "3": "illum"
      },
      "expansion": "Latin illum",
      "name": "inh"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "ro",
        "2": "la",
        "3": "ille"
      },
      "expansion": "Latin ille",
      "name": "inh"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "rup",
        "2": "-lu"
      },
      "expansion": "Aromanian -lu",
      "name": "cog"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "ro",
        "2": "el"
      },
      "expansion": "Doublet of el",
      "name": "dbt"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Identical to -l, from older *-lu, either from a clipping of Vulgar Latin *illu, or from Latin illum, accusative of Latin ille. Compare Aromanian -lu. Doublet of el.\nUnlike Western Romance languages, the suffix came to be appended at the end of the respective noun as part of influence from nearby languages, a characteristic of the Balkan Sprachbund. The suffix then underwent aphaeresis and was subsequently degeminated.\nIn older Romanian (still dialectally attested, found in place names, in the word unu (“one”) and in Aromanian), masculine and neuter nouns ended in -u, a remnant of Latin -us/-um; for example foc, which used to be *focu. As such, the definite form of *focu was *foculu. Even though -ul is technically a variant of -l after nouns that used to end in -u, the tendency to drop word-final -u in the indefinite forms—which underwent reduction and was then dropped since it served no grammatical value (unlike the palatalization of modern Romanian, both possibly under influence from nearby Slavic languages; cf. Havlík's Law)—led to the rebracketing of the suffix, thus making it the new definite article suffix for the now consonant-final nouns. As a result, the definite form *foculu became the modern Romanian focul, making the -u- a vestige of the then-abundant -u suffix inherited from Latin.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "-l",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "-le",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "-u'",
      "tags": [
        "alternative",
        "colloquial",
        "pronunciation-spelling"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "-u",
      "tags": [
        "alternative",
        "colloquial",
        "pronunciation-spelling"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "ro",
        "2": "suffix",
        "g": "m",
        "g2": "n"
      },
      "expansion": "-ul m or n",
      "name": "head"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "Romanian",
  "lang_code": "ro",
  "pos": "suffix",
  "senses": [
    {
      "alt_of": [
        {
          "word": "-l"
        }
      ],
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 7 entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Romanian entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Romanian suffixes with multiple genders",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "the (definite article)"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "variant of -l"
      ],
      "id": "en--ul-ro-suffix-zgdo9iFI",
      "links": [
        [
          "-l",
          "-l#Romanian"
        ]
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "word": "-i"
        },
        {
          "word": "-l"
        },
        {
          "word": "-le"
        },
        {
          "word": "-ului"
        },
        {
          "word": "-a"
        },
        {
          "word": "-ua"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "alt-of",
        "alternative",
        "masculine",
        "morpheme",
        "neuter"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ul/"
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/u/",
      "tags": [
        "informal"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "-ul"
}

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "ro",
        "2": "la-vul",
        "3": "",
        "4": "*illu"
      },
      "expansion": "Vulgar Latin *illu",
      "name": "inh"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "ro",
        "2": "la",
        "3": "illum"
      },
      "expansion": "Latin illum",
      "name": "inh"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "ro",
        "2": "la",
        "3": "ille"
      },
      "expansion": "Latin ille",
      "name": "inh"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "rup",
        "2": "-lu"
      },
      "expansion": "Aromanian -lu",
      "name": "cog"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "ro",
        "2": "el"
      },
      "expansion": "Doublet of el",
      "name": "dbt"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Identical to -l, from older *-lu, either from a clipping of Vulgar Latin *illu, or from Latin illum, accusative of Latin ille. Compare Aromanian -lu. Doublet of el.\nUnlike Western Romance languages, the suffix came to be appended at the end of the respective noun as part of influence from nearby languages, a characteristic of the Balkan Sprachbund. The suffix then underwent aphaeresis and was subsequently degeminated.\nIn older Romanian (still dialectally attested, found in place names, in the word unu (“one”) and in Aromanian), masculine and neuter nouns ended in -u, a remnant of Latin -us/-um; for example foc, which used to be *focu. As such, the definite form of *focu was *foculu. Even though -ul is technically a variant of -l after nouns that used to end in -u, the tendency to drop word-final -u in the indefinite forms—which underwent reduction and was then dropped since it served no grammatical value (unlike the palatalization of modern Romanian, both possibly under influence from nearby Slavic languages; cf. Havlík's Law)—led to the rebracketing of the suffix, thus making it the new definite article suffix for the now consonant-final nouns. As a result, the definite form *foculu became the modern Romanian focul, making the -u- a vestige of the then-abundant -u suffix inherited from Latin.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "-l",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "-le",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "-u'",
      "tags": [
        "alternative",
        "colloquial",
        "pronunciation-spelling"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "-u",
      "tags": [
        "alternative",
        "colloquial",
        "pronunciation-spelling"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "ro",
        "2": "suffix",
        "g": "m",
        "g2": "n"
      },
      "expansion": "-ul m or n",
      "name": "head"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "Romanian",
  "lang_code": "ro",
  "pos": "suffix",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "-i"
    },
    {
      "word": "-l"
    },
    {
      "word": "-le"
    },
    {
      "word": "-ului"
    },
    {
      "word": "-a"
    },
    {
      "word": "-ua"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "alt_of": [
        {
          "word": "-l"
        }
      ],
      "categories": [
        "Pages with 7 entries",
        "Pages with entries",
        "Romanian doublets",
        "Romanian entries with incorrect language header",
        "Romanian lemmas",
        "Romanian masculine suffixes",
        "Romanian neuter suffixes",
        "Romanian suffixes",
        "Romanian suffixes with multiple genders",
        "Romanian terms derived from Latin",
        "Romanian terms derived from Vulgar Latin",
        "Romanian terms inherited from Latin",
        "Romanian terms inherited from Vulgar Latin"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "the (definite article)"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "variant of -l"
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "-l",
          "-l#Romanian"
        ]
      ],
      "tags": [
        "alt-of",
        "alternative",
        "masculine",
        "morpheme",
        "neuter"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ul/"
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/u/",
      "tags": [
        "informal"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "-ul"
}