barbur

Forms

barbur m (plural barburi)^[1] In Banat the word is barbure: „capătul corzii de la vălău se pune pe barburele săcurii” “the end of the cord is put on the heel of the hatchet”.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin barbula (“little beard”), a diminutive of the Latin word for beard, the view of Hasdeu, Candrea–Densusianu, the DA, Ciorănescu and Tiktin's 3rd edition.^[4][5][2][1] The first edition of Tiktin and Scriban took it instead as a Romanian derivative of barbă.^[4][6] Șăineanu explained the name of the embroidery by the likeness of its silk or cotton threads to a small beard.^[7]

REW sets it beside dialectal Romance words of the same source, such as Occitan barbola (“barb of an arrow”) and the Friulian word for a cock's wattles.^[8][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is Barcianu's dictionary of 1868, for the triangular gusset in the front and back of a peasant shirt.^[3] DELR dates the word to Hasdeu's questionnaire answers of 1885, and MDA2 to a monograph on the village of Măidan in Banat (1895), where barburele is the heel of a hatchet.^[4][10][2]

Semantic evolution

The word names a pointed or angular projection: the lower corner of the blade of a knife, an axe or a broadaxe, the triangular piece of embroidery on the chest and back of a man's shirt, and in Covurlui the wooden tenon by which the felloes of a wheel fit together.^[4][2][10] Scriban records it for the wooden pegs that join the boards of a barrel's head.^[6] A Transylvanian folk song tells the seamstress to put a plough with six oxen on the front barbur of the shirt and another on the back.^[3][11] The derivative bărburătură, a triangular nick cut in a sheep's ear, is recorded from 1898.^[4][5]

Timeline

• 1868 – barbur in Barcianu's dictionary, the first record.^[3]
• 1885 – in the answers to Hasdeu's questionnaire.^[4]
• 1895 – barburele săcurii “the heel of the hatchet” in a Banat village monograph.^[10][2]
• 1898 – bărburătură, a nick in a sheep's ear, in Damé's folk terminology.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. (regional) The lower corner of the blade of a knife, an axe or a broadaxe.^[10][12][1]
2. (regional) A wooden tenon, such as the one that joins the felloes of a wheel.^[10][4]
3. (Transylvania) A triangular gusset or embroidery on the front and back of a peasant shirt.^[4][3][1]

Word family

• bărburătură

Related words

• barbă
• Latin barbula

Usage notes

A separate regional barbur means the guelder rose;^[13][10] DELR treats it as a back-formation from barbură.^[13][10]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. barbur
3. ^ 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. bárbur
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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. barbur
5. ^ a b 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. barbur
6. ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 151
7. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 1, 54
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 949
9. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Densusianu, Ov. (1907–1914), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române: elementele latine (A–Putea), București, p. 23
10. ^ a b c d e f g Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 165
11. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. barbur
12. ^ Bulgăr, Gheorghe; Constantinescu-Dobridor, Gheorghe (2002), Dicționar de arhaisme și regionalisme, 2 vols., București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. barbur
13. ^ a b 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. barbură