șoarece

Forms

șoarece m (plural șoareci)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin sōrex (“shrew-mouse”), continued in its accusative sōricem.^[2][3][4][1] The Latin word has no secure etymology: de Vaan relates it to Ancient Greek ὕραξ (húrax, “shrew-mouse”) and takes both to be reflexes of a shared loanword, while an older view links it with the imitative susurrus (“whisper, rustling”).^[5][1]

The word survives south of the Danube as Aromanian shoaric.^[6][7][1] Its Romance cognates include Dalmatian surco, Italian sorcio and Spanish sorce; French souris continues a Latin form with a long /iː/.^[8][1] Scriban explains the diphthong ⟨oa⟩ from the long Latin /oː/.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to 1581.^[10] The DLR quotes un șoarice among the gifts sent to Darius in a translation of Herodotus of 1645, and a text from before 1652 that tells the priest what to do if a mouse or other creature eats the consecrated bread.^[4] The 17th-century Slavonic–Romanian lexicons gloss it with Old Church Slavonic мышь (myšĭ, “mouse”).^[11]

Semantic evolution

The word names the house mouse and, with a qualifier, several other small rodents: șoarece de câmp “field mouse” and șoarece de pădure “wood mouse”.^[2][4] Figurative compounds describe people: șoarece de bibliotecă “bookworm” and șoarece de birou “bureaucrat”.^[2] Plant names were formed on it, such as urechea șoarecelui “mouse's ear”.^[10] In slang it is a term of address between friends.^[12]

Timeline

• 1581 – the first record Tiktin gives.^[10]
• 1645 – șoarice in a Romanian translation of Herodotus.^[4]
• before 1652 – șoarece in a text printed in Gaster's chrestomathy.^[3][4]
• 1660 – șoarec and șoarece gloss Slavonic “mouse” in a Slavonic–Romanian lexicon.^[11]
• 1688 – șoareci in the Bucharest Bible.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. A mouse, the small grey rodent with a pointed snout and a long thin tail that lives around houses (Mus musculus).^[2][3][1]
2. Any of several related small rodents, named with a qualifier: șoarece de câmp “field mouse”, șoarece de pădure “wood mouse”.^[2][4]
3. (figurative) In șoarece de bibliotecă, a person who spends most of the time reading in libraries, a bookworm;^[2] șoarece de birou, a bureaucrat.^[2]

Word family

• șoricel
• șoricar
• șoricioaică

Related words

• Aromanian shoaric
• Latin sōrex

Usage notes

A se juca cu cineva ca pisica cu șoarecele means to toy with someone, keeping them in suspense;^[2] în gaură de șarpe or în gaură de șoarece is the most hidden hiding place.^[2] Scriban gives șoarece as the western and șoarice as the eastern form;^[9][2] DEX also lists the variant șoarec.^[9][2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1090
3. ^ a b c Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 1110
4. ^ a b c d e f Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. șoarece
5. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
6. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1010
7. ^ Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net), p. 934
8. ^ Wikționar (Romanian Wiktionary), ro.wiktionary.org
9. ^ a b c Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1, 1283
10. ^ a b c Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. șoarece
11. ^ a b Ungureanu, Mădălina; Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Moruz, Alexandru (eds.), eRomLex: The First Romanian Bilingual Dictionaries (17th century), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. s.v. șoarece
12. ^ Volceanov, George (2007), Dicționar de argou al limbii române, București: Niculescu, p. s.v. șoarece
13. ^ Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. 1 Kingdoms 6:4