biblie

Forms

biblie f (plural biblii)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Medieval Latin biblia,^[2][3][4][1] which DELR says also came through the Slavonic form of the word.^[3] The Latin word is from Ancient Greek βιβλία (biblía) “the books”, the plural of βιβλίον (biblíon, “book; sheet of papyrus”), from βίβλος (bíblos) or βύβλος (búblos) “book, papyrus sheet, papyrus”.^[3][5] The DA explains the Greek singular as a diminutive and the Bible as the Christians' book par excellence.^[5]

The Greek word is traditionally traced to the Phoenician city of Byblos; since the city's own name was Gbl, DELR, after Chantraine and Beekes, reports the view that the word had another origin and was brought close to the place name by folk etymology.^[3] Ciorănescu notes that the modern compounds such as bibliotecă and bibliografie came straight from French.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR and Tiktin date the first record to a document of 1588.^[3][6] The first complete Romanian Bible, printed in Bucharest in 1688, is titled „Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură ale cei vechi și ale cei noao leage” “the Bible, that is the divine Scripture of the old and the new law”, which is MDA2's first record.^[5][7]

Semantic evolution

The word names the holy book of Christianity and Judaism, the Old and New Testaments.^[4][3] In the 19th century it was used figuratively for any bulky book: Costache Negruzzi writes of someone who had read „o biblie întreagă” “a whole bible”.^[5] Later it came to mean the basic book of a discipline or school of thought.^[3][4] Gaster's chrestomathy records the old form blibie.^[8]

Timeline

• 1588 – first record, in a document.^[3][6]
• 1688 – the title of the Bucharest Bible.^[7][5]
• 1792–1798 – the adjective biblicesc in Samuil Micu;^[3] biblic c. 1832 in Iordache Golescu.^[3]
• 1825 – glossed as “Holy Scripture” in the Lexicon de la Buda.^[9]
• 1852 – an isolated record of biblist “biblical scholar”, a word in general use only from 1978.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. The Bible: the holy book of Judaism and Christianity, made up of the Old Testament and the New Testament, the latter recognized only by Christians.^[4][7][1]
2. (figurative) A very bulky book.^[4][7]
3. (figurative) The basic book of a literature, a science or a school of thought: Manualul acesta e biblia grădinarilor. “This manual is the gardeners' bible.”^[4][10]

Word family

• biblic
• biblist

Usage notes

For the holy book the word is usually capitalised, Biblia;^[1] Wiktionary has the capitalised form as a page of its own.^[1] It is pronounced with four syllables, -bli-e.^[5][11]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. biblie
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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. biblie
4. ^ a b c d e f DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 101
5. ^ a b c d e f 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. biblie
6. ^ a b Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. biblie
7. ^ a b c d Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 202
8. ^ Gaster, M. (1891), Chrestomatie română: texte tipărite și manuscrise (sec. XVI–XIX), dialectale și populare, cu o introducere, gramatică și un glosar româno-francez, vol. II, Leipzig: Brockhaus / București: Socec, p. s.v. biblie
9. ^ Lesicon românescu-latinescu-ungurescu-nemțescu quare de mai mulți autori, în cursul a trideci și mai multor ani s-au lucrat (1825), Buda: Typographia Universității (the Lexicon of Buda, ed. Petru Maior et al.), p. 55
10. ^ Dima, Eugenia (coord.) (2007), Dicționar explicativ ilustrat al limbii române, Chișinău: Arc / Gunivas, p. s.v. biblie
11. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. biblie