bale

Forms

bale f pl (plural only)^[1] The 1688 Bible has the plural with the article: „Și balele lui cura preste barba a lui” “and his spittle ran down his beard” (1 Samuel 21:13).^[2][3] A singular bală is recorded from about 1650 and in the dialects.^[4][5][6]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *baba (“slobber”), a word found across Romance.^[4][6][7][1] DELR sees in it an expressive creation, compare the syllable ⟨bab-⟩ used of babbling and the lips.^[4] The regular singular would be ⟨*ba⟩, which is not used, and the word is its plural, as ⟨stele⟩ is of stea; a new singular ⟨bală⟩ was made from the plural.^[6][2][1] Ciorănescu notes that Laurian and Massim and Lambrior were the first to propose this etymology.^[6]

It survives south of the Danube: Aromanian bală and Megleno-Romanian bal'ă.^[6][4][8] Its Romance cognates include Italian bava, French bave, Catalan bava, Spanish baba and Portuguese baba.^[7][6][1]

Miklosich and Cihac took the Romanian word from Serbo-Croatian bale;^[6][4][9] DELR and Ciorănescu hold that the Serbo-Croatian word was borrowed from Romanian.^[6][4][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR's first record is the singular bală in the Anonymus Caransebesiensis, a dictionary of about 1650.^[4] MDA2 dates the word to the Bucharest Bible of 1688, where David lets his spittle run down his beard.^[5][2] The derivative îmbăla “to slobber over” is older, in Coresi's Psalter of 1589.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Besides human and animal saliva, the word names the slime on the skin of fish and the trail of snails.^[10] In folk belief balele vrăjmașului “the devil's slobber” poisons waters.^[2][5] The idiom a-i curge balele după ceva “to drool over something” means to long for it.^[10][5]

The adjective bălos “slobbering; dirty, disgusting”, said also of spoiled wine, is first recorded as a personal name in 1563–1564.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 1650 – the singular bală in the Anonymus Caransebesiensis.^[4]
• 1688 – balele in the Bucharest Bible.^[5][3]
• 1717 – bălăi “to foam at the mouth” in a chronicle.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. slobber, drool: thick, foamy saliva running from the mouth.^[10][1]
2. The slime covering the body of fish.^[10]
3. The sticky trail left by snails.^[10]

Word family

• bălăi
• bălos
• băloșel
• îmbăla
• îmbălătură
• îmbăloșa

Related words

• Aromanian bală

Usage notes

Bale is used only in the plural; the singular bală is regional.^[4][5]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. bale
3. ^ a b Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. 1 Kings 21:13
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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. bale
5. ^ 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, 159
6. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. bale
7. ^ a b Pușcariu, Sextil (1905), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der rumänischen Sprache I: Lateinisches Element, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 15
8. ^ Capidan, Theodor (1935), Meglenoromânii III: Dicționar meglenoromân, București: Academia Română, p. 32
9. ^ a b Cihac, A. de (1879), Dictionnaire d'étymologie daco-romane II: Éléments slaves, magyars, turcs, grecs-moderne et albanais, Frankfurt am Main, p. 7
10. ^ a b c d e DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 86