bășică

Forms

bășică f (plural bășici)^[1] Moldavia and Transylvania also have beșică;^[2][3] MDA2 records a rare plural bășicuri.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin vessīca (“bladder”), a variant of vēsīca;^{[4][5][6][7][1]} DEX writes the Latin form *bessica.^{[4][5][6][7][1]} Pușcariu cites a 6th-century spelling with b- and -ss-.^[8] The word is pan-Romance: Italian vescica, French vessie, Spanish vejiga and Portuguese bexiga.^[5][8][9] It survives south of the Danube: Aromanian bishicã and Megleno-Romanian bișǫcă.^{[5][4][10][11]} Ciorănescu also compares Albanian mesikë.^[5][8]

The Latin word may be related to vissiō (“to break wind”), from an onomatopoeic root.^[1] vezică is a later learned doublet.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR's first record is the form beșici in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki of the early 16th century.^[4][12] The diminutive Bășicuța is a place name in 1517.^[2][4] The Bucharest Bible of 1688 has the blisters of the plague of Egypt: „rane, bășici ... fierbânde” “sores, blisters breaking out” (Exodus 9:9).^[2][13]

Semantic evolution

The word names the urinary bladder, the gall bladder (bășica fierii) and the swim bladder of fish;^[6][2][7] Dosoftei writes of „boală de piatră în beșică” “the stone in the bladder”.^[6][2][7] A dried animal bladder served as a pouch, a tobacco bag or a cover for bottles, and stretched over a window it took the place of glass.^[6][14] By analogy the word came to mean a balloon, a paper lantern, a glass globe or flask, the chimney of an oil lamp and, in slang, a football.^[6][2][7] A blister on the skin and a bubble on water or dough are among its main senses.^[7][2]

Romanian lent the word to its neighbours: Serbo-Croatian bešika and Macedonian бешика (bešika) are taken from it.^[5][8][1]

Timeline

• early 16th century – beșici in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki (Psalm 80).^[4][12]
• 1517 – the place name Bășicuța.^[2][4]
• 1560–1561 – the verb bășica in Coresi's Pravila.^[4]
• 1682–1686 – beșică “bladder” in Dosoftei's lives of the saints.^[2][6]
• 1688 – bășici “blisters” in the Bucharest Bible (Exodus 9:9).^[2][13]
• 1691–1697 – bășicos “full of blisters” in Teodor Corbea's dictionary.^[4]
• 1915 – beștea “blister on the tongue” in the Hațeg region.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A membranous sac of the body in which a secretion collects; bladder;^[7][3][1] bășica fierii “the gall bladder”.^[7][3][1]
2. A dried animal bladder used as a pouch or bag; the swim bladder of fish.^[7][3]
3. A swelling of the skin filled with fluid; a blister.^[7][1]
4. A small bubble of air on a liquid or in dough.^[7][3]
5. A spherical glass object;^[7][15] (slang) a football.^[7][15]

Word family

• bășica
• bășicuță
• beștea
• bășicos

Related words

• vezică
• Aromanian bishicã
• Latin vessīca

Usage notes

In slang bășică also names the breathalyser ampoule of the traffic police.^[15] Bășica-porcului is a folk name of the puffball.^[6]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. bășică
3. ^ a b c d e f Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 186
4. ^ 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. bășică
5. ^ a b c d e f 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. bășică
6. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. bășică
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1, 96
8. ^ a b c d Pușcariu, Sextil (1905), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der rumänischen Sprache I: Lateinisches Element, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 15
9. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
10. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 210
11. ^ Saramandu, Nicolae (coord.) et al. (2010–), Dicționarul dialectului meglenoromân, general și etimologic, fascicles in Fonetică și dialectologie XXIX–, p. 84
12. ^ 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
13. ^ a b Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition)
14. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 1, 56
15. ^ a b c Volceanov, George (2007), Dicționar de argou al limbii române, București: Niculescu, p. s.v. bășică