bagaj

Forms

bagaj n (plural bagaje)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French bagage (“luggage”), as all the dictionaries agree.^{[2][3][4][5][1]} The early forms bogajie, bagagiu and the Transylvanian bogagie show the word being adapted to Romanian noun endings before the modern form settled.^[6]

The French word, first spelled ⟨baguage⟩ about 1265, is a collective noun formed on the old bagues (“belongings, clothes taken along”).^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR's first record is the variant bogajie in Samuil Micu's dictionary (1780–1801), with the sense “the things one takes on a journey”.^[6] Tiktin dates bagaj itself to 1806, in Klein's dictionary.^[4]

Semantic evolution

MDA2 notes that the word once also meant the baggage of an army on campaign.^[3] Phrases grew from the travel sense: a-și face bagajele “to pack one's bags”, hence “to leave”, and a-i face cuiva bagajele “to throw someone out”.^[3][2] A figurative sense, the stock of knowledge someone has in a field, is recorded by DEX and the neologism dictionaries.^[2][8] The compound portbagaj “car boot, luggage rack”, from porte-bagages, is recorded from 1937 in Rebreanu.^[6]

Timeline

• 1780-1801 – bogajie in Samuil Micu's dictionary.^[6]
• 1806 – bagaj in Klein's dictionary.^[4]
• 1872 – bagaj in Constantin Negruzzi's collected writings.^[3]
• 1937 – portbagaj in Rebreanu.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. luggage, baggage: all the things one takes on a journey.^[2][3][1]
2. (figurative) The knowledge someone has gathered in a field.^[2][5]

Word family

• portbagaj

Related words

• French bagage

Usage notes

A-și face bagajele means “to get ready to leave” and, by extension, “to leave”.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 85
3. ^ 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, 156
4. ^ 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. bagaj
5. ^ a b Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. bagaj
6. ^ a b c d e 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. bagaj
7. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. bagaj