berbecar

Forms

berbecar m (plural berbecari)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *berbēcārius (“shepherd of rams”), the view of Candrea and Densusianu, CADE, the REW and the DA, which DELR gives first.^[2][3][4][5] The DA points to Medieval Latin berbicārius, found in the Reichenau glosses; it is recorded as birbicārius (“herdsman”) about 600, and the Late Latin form is vervēcārius.^[5][6][1] The word is formed on vervēx (“wether”) and continues in French berger, Occitan bergier and Sardinian bervegadzu.^[1][5][6] It survives south of the Danube: Aromanian birbicar and Megleno-Romanian birbicar.^[2][7][8]

DEX, MDA2 and Wikționar derive it within the language: from Romanian berbec + -ar, and Ciorănescu allows both.^{[2][9][10][11]}

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is from 1534, DELR's a place name of 1649.^[12][2] Tiktin also has the personal name Berbețiar in 1726.^[12]

Semantic evolution

The word names the shepherd who keeps the rams, which were pastured apart from the ewes.^[11][5][13] In Aromanian pastoral life the ram herds grazed higher in the mountains than the herds of milking ewes.^[7] In folk belief Filipii berbecari or cei trei Filipi are autumn holidays in late September, kept without work to protect the rams from wolves;^{[12][11][5][13]} MDA2, the DA and Scriban name one of them, on the 26th of September, Berbecar.^{[12][11][5][13]}

Timeline

• 1534 – the first record Tiktin cites.^[12]
• 1649 – a place name.^[2]
• 1726 – the personal name Berbețiar.^[12]
• 1884–1885 – “shepherd of rams” in the answers to Hasdeu's questionnaire.^[11]
• 1910 – berbecar “long sheepskin coat” in Mehedinți.^[2][11]

Meanings

Noun

1. (rare) A shepherd who keeps the rams.^[11][10][1]
2. (dated, popular) A name of one of the three autumn feasts of the Filipi, on the 26th of September.^[11][14]

Related words

• berbec
• Aromanian birbicar
• Latin vervēx

Usage notes

A separate berbecar (neuter, plural berbecare), recorded in Mehedinți in 1910, is a long sheepskin coat with long wool, formed on berbec with the instrumental suffix -ar.^[5][2][11]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g 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. berbec
3. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Densusianu, Ov. (1907–1914), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române: elementele latine (A–Putea), București, p. 159
4. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească
5. ^ a b c d e f g 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. berbecar
6. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 208
8. ^ Saramandu, Nicolae (coord.) et al. (2010–), Dicționarul dialectului meglenoromân, general și etimologic, fascicles in Fonetică și dialectologie XXIX–, p. 82
9. ^ 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. berbec
10. ^ a b DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1, 100
11. ^ a b c d e f g h i Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 198
12. ^ a b c d e f Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. berbecar
13. ^ a b c Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună
14. ^ Dima, Eugenia (coord.) (2007), Dicționar explicativ ilustrat al limbii române, Chișinău: Arc / Gunivas, p. s.v. berbecar