blană

Forms

blană f (plural blăni or (sense 1.2, optionally 1.1) blănuri or (archaic) blane)^[1] The plural is blăni for the pelts and the boards, and blănuri for furs as goods or kinds of fur.^[2][3][1] An older plural blane occurs in Neculce's chronicle: „blane de spinări de soboli” “furs of sable backs”.^[4][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Bulgarian блана (blana), according to DEX, MDA2, the DLRM and Wiktionary.^[2][3][5][1] DER and DELR start instead from an unattested Old Slavonic form, which DELR traces to Proto-Slavic *bolna;^[6][7][8] Tiktin also starts from Slavonic, with the sense “skin”.^[6][7][8] The Slavic cognates are Czech blána (“film, membrane”), Slovak blana, Polish błona (“membrane”), Slovene blanja (“board”) and Serbo-Croatian blanak (“board”).^[6][7] In Bulgarian the word now means a strip of grassy land or a clod of turf.^[7][9] The BER also derives it from the same Proto-Slavic form.^[9]

The DA called the etymology uncertain.^[4] If the sense “fur” grew out of “board”, the shared idea would be a lining; the South Slavic form with ⟨bla-⟩ (not ⟨bol-⟩) would then have meant “thin skin, film”, as it still does in Czech and partly in Russian.^[4] The DA also allowed that “board” is the older sense.^[4] The word survives south of the Danube only as “board, piece of wood”: Aromanian blană and Megleno-Romanian blană.^{[6][4][10][11]} Pascu tried to connect it with a hypothetical Dalmatian form, Italian piana and French planche;^[6] DER dismisses the attempt.^[6] The Buda dictionary of 1825 had derived it from Latin planca.^[12] Modern Greek μπλάνα (blána) comes from Slavic according to Meyer, but from Romanian according to Murnu.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is a place name, Capul Blănilor, in a document of 1592;^[7][8] Tiktin also dates the word to 1592.^[7][8] The derivative blănar “furrier” is recorded about 1650 in the Anonymus Caransebesiensis.^[7] In Neculce's chronicle the plural blane means furs, in a list of sable pelts.^[4][3]

Semantic evolution

Romanian has two main senses: the hairy coat of an animal, then a dressed fur and a garment made or lined with it, and, in the mountain regions, a thick board, short and hewn with the axe, used for door and window frames.^[4][2] The DA found the board sense less widespread than the fur sense.^[4] The board sense has many regional uses: the floor of a wagon, the crossbeams of a loom, the board under a sawmill wheel, a well's rim and a coffin lid.^[3] Klein's dictionary of 1801 glosses blána with Latin and Hungarian words for a fur lining.^[13]

Folk phrases use the fur sense: a-i scutura cuiva blana “to give someone a beating”; others the board, a dormi blană “to sleep like a log” and a zăcea blană “to lie stretched out”.^[3][4] Recent slang has a da blană and la blană among drivers, “with the accelerator floored”,^[14] and uses the noun for pubic hair.^[15] Youth slang also uses blană as an indeclinable adjective meaning “great, cool”.^[1]

The derivatives are old: blănar (c. 1650), blănărie “furrier's trade or shop” (1741) and blănăreasă (1864).^[7]

Timeline

• 1592 – Capul Blănilor, a place name, the first record.^[7][8]
• c. 1650 – blănar “furrier” in the Anonymus Caransebesiensis.^[7]
• 1741 – blănărie “furrier's trade, fur shop”.^[7]
• 1786 – blănărie as a collective “furs”.^[7]
• 1792 – a Moldavian document prices white sheepskin furs at 6 lei, black at 8.^[4]
• 1801 – blána “fur lining” in Klein's dictionary.^[13]
• 1864 – blănăreasă “woman furrier”.^[7]
• 1907 – blănăreală and blăneală “a beating”.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. The hair or wool covering the skin of an animal, its coat.^[2][3]
2. An animal's skin dressed with the hair on, a fur or pelt;^[2][16] blană artificială “fake fur”.^[2][16]
3. A fur coat, or a coat lined with fur.^[2][3][1]
4. (popular, regional) A thick board, usually short and hewn with the axe.^[2][4]
5. (regional) Various wooden parts: the floor of a wagon, a crossbeam of the loom, a window frame, the rim of a well, a coffin lid.^[3][1]
6. (slang) pubic hair.^[15][1]

Adjective

1. (slang, indeclinable) Great, cool, awesome: Concertul a fost blană!^[1]

Word family

• blănar
• blănăreală
• blănăreasă
• blănărie
• blăneală
• blăni
• blănit
• blăniță
• blănos

Related words

• oblon
• Aromanian blană

Usage notes

In Megleno-Romanian the plural blǫń also means “tall tales”.^[10]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 108
3. ^ 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, 214
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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. blană
5. ^ Academia Republicii Populare Romîne (1958), Dicționarul limbii romîne moderne, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1, 83
6. ^ a b c d e f g 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. blană
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n 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. blană
8. ^ 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. blánă
9. ^ a b Georgiev, Vladimir I. et al. (eds.) (1971–), Bălgarski etimologičen rečnik, Sofija: Izdatelstvo na Bălgarskata akademija na naukite
10. ^ a b Saramandu, Nicolae (coord.) et al. (2010–), Dicționarul dialectului meglenoromân, general și etimologic, fascicles in Fonetică și dialectologie XXIX–
11. ^ Capidan, Theodor (1935), Meglenoromânii III: Dicționar meglenoromân, București: Academia Română
12. ^ 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.)
13. ^ a b Gáldi, László (ed.) (1944), Samuel Klein: Dictionarium valachico-latinum. Primul dicționar al limbii române, Budapest: Királyi Magyar Pázmány Péter Tudományegyetemi Román Intézet (Klein's dictionary of 1801, with Gáldi's etymological study)
14. ^ Dimitrescu, Florica (1997), Dicționar de cuvinte recente, 2nd ed., București: Logos (with the 3rd ed., 2013, in CLRE)
15. ^ a b Volceanov, George (2007), Dicționar de argou al limbii române, București: Niculescu
16. ^ a b Dima, Eugenia (coord.) (2007), Dicționar explicativ ilustrat al limbii române, Chișinău: Arc / Gunivas, p. s.v. blană