armar

Forms

armar n (plural armare)^[1] Transylvanian sources also have armariu, almar and almariu; a Hațeg inventory of 1811 lists „Armariu..., scaune..., o ladă” “a cupboard, chairs, a chest”.^[2][3]

Etymology

The DA, DEX, MDA2 and Wiktionary take it as inherited from Latin armārium (“cupboard”), formed in Latin from arma (“weapons, tools”).^[2][4][5][1] The DA argues that the Romanians cannot have taken it from a neighbouring people: the word lives only among the Romanians of Hungary and the Istro-Romanians, which points to an old word, and the Hungarian word would probably have given another form.^[2] Tamás holds the opposite view: for geographical and historical reasons it cannot continue the Latin word directly and must have come through Hungarian almáriom, which is from Medieval Latin almarium.^[6] Tiktin also derives it from Latin through Hungarian, and compares dialectal German Almer.^[7]

DELR calls the etymology uncertain: the Latin word is certainly the ultimate source, and it lists Pușcariu, the DA, the REW and DEX for inheritance and Hasdeu, Tiktin, CADE and Tamás for a Hungarian loan, which geography, chronology and history also support.^[3][8] Ciorănescu derives the variant almar perhaps from Slovene or Hungarian, and notes that French armoire, borrowed as armuar, partly strengthened it.^[9]

DELR notes that the cognate Istro-Romanian armår may be borrowed from the Croatian of Istria.^[3] The Latin word was inherited by Dalmatian armar, Italian armadio and Old French armaire, the source of the modern French word.^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR's first record is the form armariu in a work of Piuariu-Molnar of 1788, with the sense “cupboard for clothes or dishes”; the variant almar(iu) is recorded in Micu's dictionary of 1780–1801.^[3][7]

Semantic evolution

The word stayed regional, in Transylvania and the Banat, where it named the cupboard for clothes, dishes or food.^[3][9][4] The Lexicon de la Buda of 1825 has almariu or armariu, and a Banat folk song in Reteganul's collection keeps a coin necklace „în armar” “in the cupboard”.^[2] The DA suggests that Filimon's armariu, a glass cupboard full of pipes, may be a Romanised French armoire, since the word was not used in the Romanian kingdom.^[2] In the rest of the country the cupboard is a dulap, and the Banat has orman, from Serbo-Croatian.^[9][2]

Timeline

• 1780–1801 – the variant almar(iu) in Micu's dictionary.^[3]
• 1788 – armariu in Piuariu-Molnar.^[3][7]
• 1811 – armariu in an inventory from Hațeg.^[2]
• 1825 – almariu or armariu in the Lexicon de la Buda.^[2]
• 1906 – the diminutive armăroaie “small chest” in Viciu's glossary.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. (regional, Transylvania and Banat) A cupboard or wardrobe for clothes, dishes or food.^[4][5][3][1]

Word family

• armăroaie

Related words

• almar
• orman
• armuar
• dulap

Usage notes

Negulici's dictionary of 1848 has a different armar “maker of weapons”.^[10]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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. armar
3. ^ 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. armar
4. ^ a b c DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 62
5. ^ a b Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 99
6. ^ Tamás, Lajos (1966), Etymologisch-historisches Wörterbuch der ungarischen Elemente im Rumänischen, Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, p. 70
7. ^ 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. almar
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 652
9. ^ 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. almar
10. ^ Negulici, I. D. (1848), Vocabular romînesc de toate vorbele streine întroduse pînă acum în limba romînească și de toate cuvintele ce s-ar mai putea introduce încă, București