șale

Forms

șale f pl (plural only)^[1][2] Regional forms are șele in Moldavia, șăle in Banat, and șeale.^[3][4] Negruzzi writes the Moldavian form: „dureri de șele și nedormire” “pains in the loins and sleeplessness”.^[5][6] A singular șală “hip” was remade regionally from the plural.^[4][5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin sella (“seat, chair; saddle”), in origin the plural of șa “saddle”.^{[2][3][7][1][8]} Ciorănescu notes that the saddle word may also have the plural ⟨șele⟩ in its other senses, while for the loins only this form is used.^[7] The Latin noun comes from *sed- (“to sit”).^[1][9]

The REW lists the Romanian word under the sense “seat” together with Albanian shalë (“thigh”).^[10][11] Ștef also reports Russu's view (1970) that the Romanian word is native and goes with the Albanian.^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Palia de la Orăștie (1581–1582), in Genesis 24:2: „Puse derept aceaia sluga mîna sa supt șalele domnului său lui Avraam” “so the servant put his hand under the loins of his master Abraham”.^[3][5]

Semantic evolution

The word names the lower part of the back around the lumbar spine in people, and the middle of the back in animals, where the saddle sits on a horse.^[2][6] MDA2 sorts it among the plural senses of șa: the part of a horse's back under the saddle, an animal's back, the withers, a person's loins or whole back, regionally the hip, and the sacrum.^[4]

Common phrases are mă dor șalele “my back aches” and a se îndrepta din șale “to straighten one's back”.^[3][12] Încheietura șalelor is the joint at the base of the spine, and a i se lipi buricul de șale “to have one's navel stuck to one's back” means to be very thin or starving.^[4]

Timeline

• 1581–1582 – in the Palia de la Orăștie, Genesis 24:2, the first record.^[3][5]
• 1639 – in a Paraclis of 1639: if the loins shake, one will go to war.^[5]
• 1870 – Costinescu's dictionary glosses it with French lombes and reins.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. The loins, the part of the human back around the lumbar region of the spine.^[2][1]
2. The middle part of an animal's back; the place on a horse's back where the saddle sits.^[2][6]
3. (popular, anatomy) The sacrum.^[4]

Related words

• șa
• înșeua
• Latin sella

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1084
3. ^ a b c d e Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. șale
4. ^ a b c d e Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 1081
5. ^ a b c d e Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. șa
6. ^ a b c Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 4, 331
7. ^ 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), p. s.v. șa
8. ^ Graur, Alexandru (1980), Cuvinte înrudite, București: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică, p. 89
9. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 7795
11. ^ a b Ștef, Dorin (2021), Dicționar de regionalisme și arhaisme din județul Maramureș, 3rd ed., Baia Mare, p. s.v. șale
12. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. șale
13. ^ Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 2, 460