bizar

Forms

bizar m or n (feminine singular bizară, masculine plural bizari, feminine/neuter plural bizare)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French bizarre.^{[2][3][4][5][1]} DEXI also names Italian bizzarro.^[6] The French adjective comes from the Italian word, which meant “capricious, irascible”, whose origin is uncertain: DELR, after the DELI, says it may be from bizza (“whim, fit of anger”).^[2][7] Nocentini takes that noun as an imitative word.^[8]

The DA, Scriban and the DN trace the French word to Spanish bizarro “brave”.^[9][10][11] The DHLF rejects this: the Spanish word is recorded later than the Italian and was itself taken from Italian.^[12]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR and Tiktin date the first record to Albina Românească of 1834, in the sense “strange, odd”.^[2][5] MDA2's first record is later, Alecsandri's poems.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The word has kept the sense “strange, unusual” and is often used as an adverb.^[3][9] Costinescu in 1870 also gives “capricious, fantastic”, and Barcianu's German equivalents include eigensinnig “wilful”.^[13][14] Alecsandri's jay imitates „orice sunete bizare” “any odd sound”, and Eminescu writes of humorous fancies each more bizarre than the last.^[9][15] The noun bizarerie was borrowed from French bizarrerie in 1837.^[2]

Timeline

• 1834 – in Albina Românească, the first record.^[2][5]
• 1837 – the noun bizarerie “oddity” in Voinescu.^[2]
• 1870 – Costinescu glosses it “extravagant, capricious, unusual”.^[13]
• 1875 – sunete bizare in Alecsandri's poems.^[4][9]

Meanings

Adjective

1. bizarre, strange, odd, extravagant; often used as an adverb: Se poartă bizar. “He behaves strangely.”^[3][9][1]
2. Vexing, troublesome.^[11][6]

Word family

• bizarerie

Related words

• ciudat
• straniu
• French bizarre

Usage notes

A glossary of Muscel records a regional bizar with a different meaning, the gathered frill around the neck of a garment.^[16]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f 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. bizar
3. ^ a b c DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 107
4. ^ a b c Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 213
5. ^ a b c Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. bizar
6. ^ a b Dima, Eugenia (coord.) (2007), Dicționar explicativ ilustrat al limbii române, Chișinău: Arc / Gunivas, p. s.v. bizar
7. ^ Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
8. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
9. ^ 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. bizar
10. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 174
11. ^ a b Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. bizar
12. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
13. ^ a b Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 1, 115
14. ^ Barcianu, Sava Popovici (1886), Dicționar român-germân și germân-român, revised by D. P. Barcianu, part I: român-germân, Sibiu: Institut tipografic, p. 59
15. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1, 243
16. ^ Rădulescu-Codin, C. (1901), O seamă de cuvinte din Muscel, Câmpulung, p. 9