alboare

Forms

alboare f (plural albori)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin albor (“whiteness; dawn”) (accusative albōrem), formed on albus (“white”).^[2][3][1][4] Ciorănescu names Candrea–Densusianu, the REW and the DA for this etymology.^[3] Its Romance cognates are Italian albore, Old French aubour, Spanish albor and Portuguese alvor.^[3][4] Wiktionary notes that it could also be analysed from Romanian alb + -oare.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR's first record is from R. Ionescu in 1854, with the sense “white gleam”.^[2] Tiktin dates a record in Sbiera's tales to 1856: „un fel de alboare, ca apa, primprejurul lui” “a kind of white gleam, like water, around it”, said of the ocean that in the old belief surrounds the earth.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The word stayed rare and literary, a white gleam or glimmer.^[6][7] Coșbuc used it in his translation of the Aeneid (1896), MDA2's first record.^[7] Șăineanu gives a regional sense “whiteness” in Transylvania and Bukovina.^[8] Ciorănescu lists the derivatives alburi “to spread a whitish light” and alburiu “whitish”.^[3]

Timeline

• 1854 – R. Ionescu, the first record.^[2]
• 1856 – Sbiera's tales, the white gleam around the earth.^[5]
• 1896 – Coșbuc's translation of the Aeneid.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. (rare) A white gleam, a pale glimmer of light.^[6][7][1]

Word family

• alburi
• alburiu

Related words

• alb
• Latin albus

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c 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. alb
3. ^ a b c d 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. alboare
4. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 324
5. ^ a b Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. alboare
6. ^ a b DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 26
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. 1, 36
8. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 1, 16