șmecherie

Forms

șmecherie f (plural șmecherii)^[1] Moldavian șmicherie, șmichirie: „Oare nu-i de făcut vreo șmichirie, până mai este încă vreme?” “isn't there some trick to be pulled while there is still time?” (Creangă).^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is formed from Romanian șmecher + -ie.^[5][4][3][1]

DER and MDA2 trace șmecher to German Schmecker (“person of refined taste”), following Tiktin, who notes only that the sounds match.^[6][4][7] Wiktionary takes it from Yiddish שמעקער (shmeker) and compares Serbo-Croatian šmeker, Bulgarian шмекер (šmeker) and Macedonian шмекер (šmeker).^[1] DER also lists the Moldavian teșmecherie “trick”, whose formation he finds unclear.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to Alecsandri in 1844, with the sense “slyness, craftiness”.^[2] MDA2 gives as its first record the second volume of Cihac's etymological dictionary (1879).^[4]

Semantic evolution

Tiktin separates the quality, “slyness”, from the act, “a trick, a dodge”, and both senses are in Ispirescu's tales and Creangă.^[2][3] Scriban (1939) defines it as “charlatanry, swindle” and labels it familiar.^[8] Sadoveanu wrote „Lauda noastră acum e: șmecheria” “our pride now is cunning”.^[3]

Folk speech has the phrases a fi (pus) la șmecherie “to be all dressed up” and a lua pe cineva la șmecherie “to treat someone slyly”.^[4] In slang it also names an accessory, especially of electronic equipment, or any thing hard to put a name to, a “thingy”.^[9][1]

Timeline

• 1844 – in Alecsandri, the first record.^[2]
• 1879 – in the second volume of Cihac's dictionary.^[4]
• 1929 – Șăineanu glosses it “trick”.^[10]
• 1939 – Scriban: “charlatanry, swindle”.^[8]
• 2007 – slang senses “accessory, gadget” and “thingy”.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. The quality of being șmecher: slyness, craftiness, street smarts.^[5][4]
2. A trick, ruse or dodge; a sly word or deed;^[5][4][1] (by extension) a swindle or fraud.^[5][4][1]
3. A quick, clever way of doing something.^[1]
4. (slang) An accessory or gadget, especially on electronic equipment; any object hard to name, a thingy.^[9][1]
5. (slang) Slickness, elegance.^[1]

Related words

• șmecher
• German Schmecker

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. șmecherie
3. ^ a b c d Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. șmecherie
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 1108
5. ^ a b c d DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1090
6. ^ 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. șmecher
7. ^ Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. șmecher
8. ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1282
9. ^ a b c Volceanov, George (2007), Dicționar de argou al limbii române, București: Niculescu, p. s.v. șmecherie
10. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 598