borî

Forms

borî (third-person singular present borăște, past participle borât) 4th conjugation^[1]

Etymology

Its origin is uncertain;^[2][3] DEX, Tiktin and the Academy dictionary call it of unknown origin.^[2][3] The most discussed explanation is inherited from Vulgar Latin *abhorriō (“to shrink from, loathe”), the fourth-conjugation form of Latin abhorreō, which Italian aborrire, Old Occitan, Old French, Catalan and Spanish aburrir continue.^[4][2][1] Ciorănescu accepts it and explains the sense by the closeness of loathing and vomiting, comparing French vomir “to vomit; to loathe”.^[4] DELR notes that the loss of the initial ⟨a-⟩ would have to be early, and that /o/ for the expected /u/ remains hard to explain.^[2] Wiktionary compares the loss of ⟨a-⟩ in other inherited words.^[1]

Pușcariu proposed a substrate verb on a base ⟨barr-⟩ “weight”, hence “nausea”, comparing Albanian barrë (“load, burden”).^[2] Cihac compared Old Church Slavonic бльвати (bljĭvati, “to vomit”), and the Lexicon of Buda vomō.^[2] Juilland took it from Romani;^[4] Ciorănescu rejects this because the word is known everywhere and recorded from Coresi on.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR's first record is Coresi's Pravila of 1560–1561, which also has the noun borâtură.^[2] The 1688 Bible uses it in Proverbs for throwing up what one has eaten.^[5]

Semantic evolution

Besides “to vomit” the verb is used of snakes spitting venom, and vulgarly for “to ejaculate”.^[2][6] The phrase a-și borî sufletul “to throw up one's soul” means “to die”, said of animals.^[6][7] In slang it also means “to inform on someone”.^[8] Ciorănescu calls it known everywhere, while a Maramureș dictionary reports it from Moldavia, Maramureș and northern Transylvania.^[4][9]

Timeline

• 1560–1561 – borî and borâtură in Coresi's Pravila.^[2]
• 1688 – borî in the Bucharest Bible.^[5]
• 1691–1697 – borât and borâtor in Teodor Corbea's dictionary.^[2]
• 1907 – borâcios and boricos “causing vomiting”.^[2]
• 1913 – borală “semen”, a word of Brașov.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. (popular) to vomit, to throw up.^[3][1]
2. (of snakes) to spit venom.^[6][7]
3. (vulgar) to ejaculate.^[6][2]
4. (slang) to inform on someone.^[8]

Word family

• borală
• borât
• borâtor
• borâtură
• boricos

Usage notes

MDA2 lists a separate regional verb borî “to turn up the brim of a hat”, formed on bor “brim”.^[7] Old texts also have the form bori.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. borî
3. ^ a b c DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 113
4. ^ a b c d e 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. borî
5. ^ a b Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Paremiile lui Solomon 23:8
6. ^ a b c d Dima, Eugenia (coord.) (2007), Dicționar explicativ ilustrat al limbii române, Chișinău: Arc / Gunivas, p. s.v. borî
7. ^ 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, 233
8. ^ a b Volceanov, George (2007), Dicționar de argou al limbii române, București: Niculescu, p. s.v. borî
9. ^ Ștef, Dorin (2021), Dicționar de regionalisme și arhaisme din județul Maramureș, 3rd ed., Baia Mare, p. s.v. borî