argintar

Forms

argintar m (plural argintari, feminine equivalent argintăreasă)^[1]

Etymology

DELR gives two explanations.^[2] It may be inherited from Latin argentārius (“money-changer; of silver”), from argentum (“silver”): so Tiktin, Candrea–Densusianu, the REW, the DA and Scriban.^{[3][4][5][6][7]} The Latin word meant “money-changer”, and the REW notes the Romanian sense “silversmith”.^[5] It survives south of the Danube: Megleno-Romanian arzintar or răzintar.^[2][4] Romance cognates include Italian argentaio, French argentier and Catalan argenter.^[4][5]

Or it is formed from Romanian argint + -ar: so DEX, NODEX and DLRM, and Ciorănescu thinks it may be.^{[8][9][10][7][8][9][10][7]} MDA2 also derives it from the noun and compares the Latin word.^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR and Tiktin date it to the New Testament of 1648, at Acts 19:24: „Un argintariu, anume Dimitrie, carele făcea bisearici de argint” “a silversmith named Demetrius, who made silver shrines”.^[2][3][12] MDA2 cites the Codicele Voronețean (c. 1563–1583), but at that verse the codex has the compound argintu-tăietoriu.^[11][12][13] The Bible of 1688 has zlătariu there instead.^[12][13]

Semantic evolution

Hasdeu names zlătar as its old synonym.^[13] In Dosoftei's lives of the saints (1683) argintariul is again a craftsman.^[13] The DA notes that it is rare and is used mostly of a man who makes or sells silver objects such as censers, chalices, icons and table services, often beside or opposed to aurar “goldsmith”; more broadly it came to mean a jeweller.^[12][11] The feminine argintăreasă “silversmith's wife” is recorded from 1908.^[2] In the 1980s a neuter noun argintar, a cabinet for the household silver, appears in the press.^[14]

Timeline

• 1648 – argintariu in the New Testament, the first record.^[2][3]
• 1683 – in Dosoftei's lives of the saints.^[13]
• 1908 – argintăreasă.^[2]
• 1984 – the neuter noun for a cabinet of silverware.^[14]

Meanings

Noun

1. (rare) A person who makes or sells silver objects, a silversmith.^[8][11][1]
2. (by extension) A jeweller.^[11][12]
3. (neuter) A cabinet holding the household silver.^[14]

Word family

• argintăreasă

Related words

• argint
• aurar
• zlătar

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f 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. argint
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. argintár
4. ^ a b c Candrea, I.-A.; Densusianu, Ov. (1907–1914), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române: elementele latine (A–Putea), București, p. 16
5. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 638
6. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 120
7. ^ 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. argint
8. ^ a b c DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 60
9. ^ a b Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. argintar
10. ^ a b Academia Republicii Populare Romîne (1958), Dicționarul limbii romîne moderne, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1, 41
11. ^ 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, 94
12. ^ 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. argintar
13. ^ a b c d e Hasdeu, B. P. (1886–1898), Etymologicum Magnum Romaniae: dicționarul limbei istorice și poporane a românilor, 4 vols. (A–Bărbat), București: Socec, p. s.v. argintar
14. ^ a b c Dimitrescu, Florica (1997), Dicționar de cuvinte recente, 2nd ed., București: Logos (with the 3rd ed., 2013, in CLRE), p. s.v. argintár