bară

Forms

bară f (plural bare)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French barre (“bar, rod”).^{[2][3][4][5][1]} DELR calls the French word a pre-Roman term of unknown origin, found in all the Romance languages except Romanian.^[3] The French word goes back to Vulgar Latin *barra, whose existence the Italian, Spanish and Old Provençal forms show; one view connects it with a Gaulish word “end, top” known only from names, another with Latin vara (“forked stick, crossbeam”).^[6] Wiktionary suggests that it may come from Frankish *bara (“bar, beam, barrier”).^[1]

In some children's games the French pronunciation survives as bar.^[2][3] The verb bara “to bar, block” and the noun baraj “dam” are separate borrowings of French barrer and barrage.^[3][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is from 1840, with the sense “iron bar, rod”.^[5] DELR dates the word to 1857.^[3] Tiktin also records the law-court sense, the rail that separates the judges from the public, with a quotation from Vlahuță about the lawyers who wear out their elbows on the bar every day.^[5][7]

Semantic evolution

The word came with the French senses: a long piece of wood or metal, and the bar of a court of law.^[7][5] The DA records the lawyers' phrase a apărea la bară “to appear before the judges”.^[7] Scriban adds the gymnastic bar, also called bară fixă, and the sandbank at the mouth of a river, naming the bar at Sulina.^[8]

Later senses are technical and sporting: the post of a goal, a stroke separating parts of a text, the bar line of a musical stave, a tidal wave moving up a river.^[3][9][4] In football, a da în bară is to hit the post, and in slang “to miss, make a mistake”.^[10]

Timeline

• 1840 – bară “bar, rod”, the first record.^[5]
• 1857 – the first record in DELR.^[3]
• 1868 – baragiu, the old form of baraj “dam”.^[3]
• 1894 – the verb bara “to bar”, as barare.^[3]
• 1905 – bar, the line or safe place in children's games.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A bar: a long piece of wood or metal used in building and technology.^[9][4]
2. A goalpost or the crossbar in some ball games;^[9][4] bară fixă is the horizontal bar in gymnastics.^[9][4]
3. (law) The place in a courtroom where the lawyers plead; originally the rail separating the judges from the lawyers and parties.^[9][4]
4. A vertical or horizontal stroke separating parts of a text;^[9][4] (music) a bar line.^[9][4]
5. A sandbank under water, usually at the mouth of a river.^[9][4]
6. A tidal wave that moves up a river from its mouth with the flood tide.^[9][4]

Word family

• bara
• baraj

Related words

• French barre

Usage notes

A separate regional word bară “bog, mire” is used in the Banat and Transylvania;^[3][2] DELR numbers it bară² and records it from 1893.^[3][2] The DA, CADE and Ciorănescu take it from Serbo-Croatian bara (“puddle, marsh”);^[7][11][3] DELR also gives the view that it is a substrate word of the same source as the Slavic one, comparing Albanian bërrak (“marshy ground”).^[7][11][3] Its derivatives include bărăcie “small pond”, first as a place name in 1568–1582.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e 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. bară
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o 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. bară
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 164
5. ^ a b c d e Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. bară
6. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ 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. bară
8. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1, 150
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 89
10. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. bară
11. ^ a b Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. bară