albie

Forms

albie f (plural albii)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *alvea or *albea, for Latin alveus (“hollow vessel, trough; riverbed”).^[2][3][4][1] DELR notes that the Romanian form may come from either ⟨-lv-⟩ or ⟨-lb-⟩, as in nalbă from malva.^[2] The Latin word is related to alvus (“belly, cavity; beehive”).^[2][5][1]

For the feminine gender, Ciorănescu expects a masculine ending in ⟨-iu⟩, whose plural ⟨albii⟩ gave a new feminine singular, as sabie was formed from its plural ⟨săbii⟩; the DA assumes a neuter plural *alvia, and the French cognate is feminine too.^[3][6][1] The Romance cognates are Lombard albio, Venetian albio and Piedmontese arbi in northern Italy, and French auge; Italian alveo is a learned word.^[3][7] For the sense “trough”, Ciorănescu cites a Latin gloss explaining the word as a hollowed log in which infants were washed.^[3] Romanian lent the word to Ukrainian.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word appears first as a place name, Albia, in a document of 1443 cited by Tiktin;^[8][2] DELR's first record is a place name of 1529.^[8][2] In Romanian texts MDA2 dates it to Dosoftei's lives of the saints (1682–1686), which speak of „vase mari de lut, ca albiile” “large clay vessels like troughs”.^[9][6]

Semantic evolution

The DA describes an albie as a vessel made from a hollowed log, used to keep flour, knead dough, wash clothes, bathe children and feed pigs; it lists the regional synonyms covată, copaie, căpistere, postavă and troacă.^[6] It often served as a cradle, so that din albie meant “from infancy”.^[6][9] The riverbed sense, already Latin, is also old: Hasdeu found albie the most widespread word for it, beside matcă and prund.^[10][8] Regionally it is also a hollow between two hills.^[9]

The phrase a face pe cineva albie de porci (or de câini) “to make someone a pigs' trough” means to heap abuse on someone;^[8][4] Alecsandri used it.^[8][4]

Timeline

• 1443 – the place name Albia.^[8]
• 1529 – a place name, DELR's first record.^[2]
• 1682–1686 – albiile “troughs” in Dosoftei's lives of the saints.^[9][6]
• 1859 – the diminutive albiuță.^[2]
• 1874 – the verb albii “to take the shape of a trough” in Alecsandri.^[2]
• 1887 – albier “trough maker” and albioară in Hasdeu.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A long trough of hewn wood or staves, used for washing, kneading or bathing children; covată, copaie.^[4][1]
2. A riverbed: the part of a valley covered by water permanently or at times; matcă.^[4][1]

Word family

• albier
• albioară
• albiuță

Related words

• albină
• Latin alveus

Usage notes

A rare noun albie “whiteness”, stressed on the last syllable and formed from alb with the suffix -ie, occurs in Dosoftei (1683).^[11][12][9] The regional variant alvie is found in Transylvania and Bukovina.^[2][8]

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 Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2011–), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române (DELR), vol. I: A–B (2011), vol. II: C (2015–2018), București: Editura Academiei Române; continued online at delr.lingv.ro, p. s.v. albie
3. ^ a b c d e 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. albie
4. ^ a b c d e DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 25
5. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e Academia Română (1913–1949), Dicționarul limbii române (DA), ed. Sextil Pușcariu, tom I (A–B, C, D–De) and tom II (F–I, J–Lojniță), București: Socec / Universul / Monitorul Oficial și Imprimeriile Statului; page scans at cflr-scans.solirom.ro, p. s.v. albie 1
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. alveus
8. ^ a b c d e f g Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. álbie
9. ^ a b c d e Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 35
10. ^ Hasdeu, B. P. (1886–1898), Etymologicum Magnum Romaniae: dicționarul limbei istorice și poporane a românilor, 4 vols. (A–Bărbat), București: Socec, p. s.v. albie
11. ^ Academia Română (1913–1949), Dicționarul limbii române (DA), ed. Sextil Pușcariu, tom I (A–B, C, D–De) and tom II (F–I, J–Lojniță), București: Socec / Universul / Monitorul Oficial și Imprimeriile Statului; page scans at cflr-scans.solirom.ro, p. s.v. albie 2
12. ^ Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. albíe