țânțar

Forms

țânțar m (plural țânțari)^[1] An older variant is țințar, which MDA2 labels obsolete and Tiktin lists as a form of the same word.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *zinzalus (“gnat, mosquito”), a form of Late Latin zinzala, a rustic word of imitative origin.^[1][4][2] Ciorănescu derives it from this word or, preferably, from tentiala, a form found in the Latin glossaries.^[5] Tiktin calls it a common Romance word, recorded in the Latin glosses and named after the insect's buzzing.^[3] It survives south of the Danube as Megleno-Romanian țănțar.^[5]

The Romance cognates include Italian zanzara, Old French cincelle and Spanish cénzalo.^[5][6] The Italian word also goes back to the Late Latin word, an imitative word.^[7][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is the plural țânțarii in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki of the early 16th century, in a verse where dog-flies and gnats come “in all their borders”.^[9][2][10] The sense is the insect, “gnat, mosquito”.^[10]

Semantic evolution

The word has always named small biting insects.^[10][2] Natural history later applied it to particular species, such as the malaria-carrying țânțar anofel, and folk names distinguished others.^[2] The 17th-century Slavonic–Romanian lexicons gloss Slavonic words for gnats and mosquitoes with it.^[11] Dimitrie Cantemir used it in his Istoria ieroglifică (1705).^[12][10]

The phrase a face din țânțar armăsar, “to make a stallion out of a gnat”, means to exaggerate.^[4][13] In modern slang the word also means an informer.^[14] Scriban held that Modern Greek tsintriras “cricket” and Hungarian cincár “thin” were taken from the Romanian word.^[13]

Timeline

• c. 1500-1520 – țânțarii “gnats” in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki, the first record.^[9][2]
• c. 1521 – Tiktin's first date for the word.^[3]
• c. 1660 – the plural țânțari glosses Slavonic words for gnats in a Slavonic–Romanian lexicon.^[11]
• 1705 – țânțari in Cantemir's Istoria ieroglifică.^[10]
• 1916 – the diminutive țânțăraș in I. C. Vissarion's stories.^[15]

Meanings

Noun

1. mosquito, gnat: the name of several two-winged insects with a long thin body and legs and narrow wings, whose larvae grow in still water and whose adults feed on blood (Culex).^[4][2][1]
2. With a qualifier, one of several particular species;^[2][10] țânțar anofel is the anopheles, which carries malaria.^[2][10]
3. (slang) An informer.^[14]

Word family

• țânțăraș
• țânțărime

Related words

• Megleno-Romanian țănțar

Usage notes

A face din țânțar armăsar means “to make a mountain out of a molehill”.^[4][16] DEX has a separate țânțar², in the plural țânțari, a name the local Slavic population of Macedonia gave to the Aromanians, of unknown origin.^[4][16]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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, 1321
3. ^ 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. țânțár 1
4. ^ a b c d e DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1159
5. ^ 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. țînțar
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 9623
7. ^ Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
8. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
9. ^ a b Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Ungureanu, Mădălina; Moruz, Alexandru et al., roPsalt: Re-evaluating the Sixteenth Century Romanian Psalters (aligned corpus), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. Ps 104:30
10. ^ a b c d e f g Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. țînțar
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. țînțari
12. ^ 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. țînțar
13. ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1368
14. ^ a b Volceanov, George (2007), Dicționar de argou al limbii române, București: Niculescu, p. s.v. țânțar
15. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 1322
16. ^ a b Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 4, 553