șobolan

Forms

șobolan m (plural șobolani)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Romanian sobol + -an, from sobol “mole”, a word that also meant “sable” in Old Romanian and “rat” in the Banat and Oltenia.^{[2][3][4][1][5]} Scriban calls it an augmentative of the base noun.^[6]

In the sense “sable” the base is Old Church Slavonic соболь (sobolĭ) according to Ciorănescu, while MDA2 takes it from Russian соболь (sobolʹ), and in the sense “mole” from Bulgarian соболец (sobolec).^[2][7][1] The Slavic word goes back to Proto-Slavic *sobolъ (“sable”).^[1] Tiktin finds the change of meaning from “sable” to “mole” remarkable.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is from 1841, for the rat.^[9] MDA2's is G. A. Polizu's Romanian–German vocabulary of 1857.^[4] Its base sobol is much older: Tiktin records it from 1594, MDA2 has the sense “sable” in Neculce's chronicle (about 1743) and “mole” from 1814.^[8][7]

Semantic evolution

The word names the brown rat and, in șobolan negru or șobolan de casă, the black rat;^[3][4] șobolan de apă is the water vole and șobolan moscat the desman.^[3][4] It is the literary word, beside the regional guzgan in Moldavia, chițcan in Wallachia and cloțan in Transylvania.^[9] MDA2 records the regional variants sobolan, șobârlan and șogolan.^[4] Figuratively it is a contemptuous name for a despicable or grasping person;^[10][6] Scriban gives the sense of a man who chases easy gains and lives in hiding.^[10][6] Bulgarian borrowed the Romanian word.^[2]

Timeline

• 1594 – the base sobol, Tiktin's first record.^[8]
• c. 1743 – sobol “sable” in Neculce's chronicle.^[7]
• 1814 – sobol “mole”.^[7]
• 1841 – șobolan “rat”, first record.^[9]
• 1857 – in Polizu's Romanian–German vocabulary.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A rat, especially the brown rat (Rattus norvegicus), a rodent larger than the mouse that lives around houses and stores and does great damage; guzgan.^[3][4][1]
2. șobolan negru, șobolan de casă: the black rat (Rattus rattus), which carries infectious diseases.^[3][4]
3. (derogatory) A despicable or grasping person.^[10][6]

Related words

• sobol
• guzgan
• șoarece

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c 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. sobol
3. ^ a b c d e DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1091
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 1110
5. ^ Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. șobolan
6. ^ a b c d Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1283
7. ^ a b c d Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 921
8. ^ 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. sobol
9. ^ 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. șobolan
10. ^ a b c Volceanov, George (2007), Dicționar de argou al limbii române, București: Niculescu, p. s.v. șobolan