>I suspect Romanian _lilie_ is a loan rather than an
>inherited form.
Is there any *lilie in Romanian? I only know of <liliác>,
i.e. [1 ]the "lilac" (Syringa) shrub & [2] the animal
"bat". The word with its both meanings seemingly via
Turkish and Neogreek (according to the dictionary).
Also: I'm not aware of any borrowing from German based
on <die Lilie> "lily" < Lat. <lilium, lilia.>
>_alium_ > Fr. _ail_, Sp. _ajo_, It. _aglio_.
Romanian ai [aj] which is the older and pan-Romanian
word: <usturoi> (a deverbal "adjectivoid" [*] < <a usturá,
usturare, usturat, ~&tor> "sharp, burning") is prevalent
in the standard language & in SE & eastern subdialects.
<ai> continues to be used regionally in central, western
and N-W subdialects.
OTOH, a sauce based on garlic, <mujdei> [muZdéj] (regionally
AKA <mojdei>) is a pan-Romanian shortening of <must de ai>.
However, many (perhaps most) native-speakers don't realize
that <mujdei> = <must-de-ai>.
>Richard.
George
_______________
[*] unfortunately, the RO-RO dictionary doesn't
point out that <usturoi> has the initial adjectival
meaning, e.g. in the context "this is sharp" (fem.
<usturoaie>); perhaps bec. of the paradox that
in the areas that have heavily influenced the
standard language it is barely used as such, whereas
just in the areas where <ai> hasn't been forgotten,
<usturoi> still bears the initial meaning, so that
the sentence <Aiul e usturoi> has a double meaning
(the additional being "The garlic is sharp"), while,
say, in Bucharest it'll be only this one: "<Ai> is
garlic."
--
<<ith a garlic aroma that could level Tacoma>> (Fr. Zappa)