șelar

Forms

șelar m (plural șelari)^[1] Old documents write șălariu: „Văsălachie șălariu” “Vasilache the saddler” (1772), and „Curelarii i șălarii” “the strap makers and the saddlers” (1812).^[2][3] Costinescu's dictionary of 1870 spells it Şellarŭ, “master of saddles and harness”.^[4]

Etymology

It is formed from Romanian șa (“saddle”) + -ar, the agent suffix added to the word for the saddle, as DEX, MDA2, the DLR and Tiktin explain it.^[5][3][2][6] Scriban derives it from the old plural of the same noun, șele.^[7] Wiktionary also allows a direct inheritance from Latin sellārius, formed on sella (“seat, saddle”).^[1] The Latin word is recorded only for a male prostitute and for a member of a chariot-racing team.^[8] Its Romance descendants mean “saddler”: Italian sellaio, French sellier, Catalan seller, Spanish sillero and Portuguese selleiro, but the REW asks whether they are not new formations.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to 1597, in a Romanian word of the Slavonic–Romanian documents.^[6] MDA2 and the DLR start with a list of craftsmen of 1748–1749 published by Iorga, where șălariul is the guild's saddle maker.^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

The word names a craftsman who makes saddles and other harness, and also the man who sells them.^[3][10] In the 18th and 19th centuries the saddlers formed guilds with the strap makers, curelari, and Golescu names the șălar among the craftsmen whose children all went to school.^[2] Barițiu notes that saddlers worked mostly for the cavalry.^[2] In the south-west of Transylvania the neuter șelar, plural șelare, is the part of the harness that runs over the horse's loins (șale).^[2][3] Regional dictionaries give șoronar as a synonym.^[3]

Timeline

• 1597 – first record, in the Slavonic–Romanian documents.^[6]
• 1748–1749 – șălariul, in a list of craftsmen published by Iorga.^[3][2]
• 1772 – Văsălachie șălariu signs a document beside other șelari.^[2]
• 1820 – recorded in Baia Mare.^[11]
• 1825 – the derivative șelământ “saddle, riding gear” in the Lexicon de la Buda.^[6]
• 1870 – Şellarŭ in Costinescu's dictionary.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A saddler: a craftsman who makes saddles and other harness.^[5][3][1]
2. A dealer in saddles and harness.^[3][10]
3. (regional, Transylvania; neuter) The part of the harness that runs over a horse's loins.^[3][2]

Related words

• șa
• șale
• curelar

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. șelar
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 1094
4. ^ a b Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 2, 501
5. ^ a b DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1087
6. ^ a b c d Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. șelar
7. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1278
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. sellārius
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 7796
10. ^ a b Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. șelar
11. ^ Ștef, Dorin (2021), Dicționar de regionalisme și arhaisme din județul Maramureș, 3rd ed., Baia Mare, p. s.v. șelar