beli

Forms

beli (third-person singular present belește, past participle belit), 4th conjugation^[1][2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Old Church Slavonic бѣлити (běliti, “to whiten”), from бѣлъ (bělŭ, “white”), with a peeling sense that Bulgarian, Slovene, Slovak and Lower Sorbian share.^{[3][2][4][5][6]} Tiktin explains the meaning as laying bare the white wood or skin; this is also the view of CADE and Mihăilă, which DELR follows.^[5][3] The Aromanian bilescu (“to skin; to bleach linen”) and Megleno-Romanian bilés point to an old borrowing.^[3][7][8]

Ciorănescu instead takes it as inherited from Latin vellō (“to pluck out”), moved to the fourth conjugation by an inchoative present, and holds that the Slavonic verb gave bili (“to whiten”) and is too far in sense from skinning.^[9][1] DELR objects that no inchoative form of the Latin verb is recorded and that the peeling sense is Slavic.^[3] The DA takes it from Bulgarian, and Scriban derives it from piele, perhaps influenced by the Slavonic verb.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The derivative belitură is first a place name, Belituri, in 1567.^[3] The verb is first printed in the Palia de la Orăștie (1581–1582), at Genesis 30:37.^[5][3] Tiktin quotes the Bucharest Bible of 1688: „pielea lui o au belit” “they flayed off his skin” (Micah).^[5][10]

Semantic evolution

The first meaning is to strip the skin from an animal.^[5][4] From it come the stripping of bark from trees, the grazing of one's own skin and, figuratively, the fleecing of people: „el ne belește și ne pradă” “he flays and plunders us”, in Negruzzi.^[5][4][11] To uncover the eyes or teeth gave a-și beli ochii “to stare wide-eyed” and a-și beli dinții “to grin foolishly”.^[5][2][4] A beli țapul “to flay the goat” is said of a drunk who vomits.^[5][4] In underworld slang the verb means to beat up, rob, cheat, stab or kill.^[12]

Timeline

• 1567 – the place name Belituri.^[3]
• 1581–1582 – the first record of the verb, in the Palia de la Orăștie.^[5][3]
• c. 1650 – belitor “one who skins cattle” in the Anonymus Caransebesiensis.^[3]
• 1673 – belesc in a Slavonic–Romanian lexicon.^[13]
• 1682–1686 – in Dosoftei's lives of the saints.^[4]
• 1688 – belit in the Bucharest Bible.^[10][5]
• 1807 – the noun belit “skinning”.^[3]
• 1885 – belit “broken-down horse, nag”.^[3]
• 1905 – beligă “strip of bark of a fibre plant”.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. (popular, transitive) To skin, flay.^[2][4][1]
2. (transitive and reflexive) To graze the skin.^[2][4]
3. (transitive) To strip a plant of its bark;^[4][14] (figurative) to rob, to fleece.^[4][14]
4. In a-și beli ochii: to open one's eyes wide, to stare; reflexive, to gape at someone.^[2][4]

Word family

• beligă
• belit
• belitor
• belitură

Related words

• bili
• Aromanian bilescu
• Old Church Slavonic бѣлити (běliti)

Usage notes

A-i beli cuiva obrazul means “to put someone to shame”.^[4][14] Romanian also has a separate verb bili “to whiten”.^[9]

References

1. ^ a b c 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. 1, 99
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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. beli
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 196
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. beli
6. ^ Kurz, Josef; Hauptová, Zoe (eds.) (1958–1997), Slovník jazyka staroslověnského / Lexicon linguae palaeoslovenicae, 4 vols. + supplements, Praha: Academia; digital ed. gorazd.org, p. s.v. бѣлити
7. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 206
8. ^ Saramandu, Nicolae (coord.) et al. (2010–), Dicționarul dialectului meglenoromân, general și etimologic, fascicles in Fonetică și dialectologie XXIX–, p. 79
9. ^ 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. beli
10. ^ a b Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition)
11. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1, 226
12. ^ Volceanov, George (2007), Dicționar de argou al limbii române, București: Niculescu, p. s.v. beli
13. ^ Ungureanu, Mădălina; Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Moruz, Alexandru (eds.), eRomLex: The First Romanian Bilingual Dictionaries (17th century), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro
14. ^ a b c Dima, Eugenia (coord.) (2007), Dicționar explicativ ilustrat al limbii române, Chișinău: Arc / Gunivas, p. s.v. beli