borcan

Forms

borcan n (plural borcane)^[1]

Etymology

Its origin is uncertain.^[2] DELR thinks it most likely borrowed from Hungarian bokál (“earthenware or glass jug”), which it derives from northern Italian forms of boccale, from Late Latin baucalis, from Ancient Greek βαύκαλις (baúkalis, “vessel for cooling wine”); Serbo-Croatian bokal may have played a part, and the ending ⟨-al⟩ was replaced by ⟨-an⟩, giving the variant bocan, which then took an /r/.^[2][3][4] Tiktin, after Tamás, finds the inserted /r/ insufficiently explained.^[3]

Cihac, Scriban and Ciorănescu took it from the compound Hungarian borkancsó (“wine jug”), of bor (“wine”) and kancsó (“jug”), the source of canceu.^[5][6][7] Șăineanu and Mândrescu named borkanna “wine jug”, and Tiktin thought of “wine” with kán (“can”).^[8][9][3] Tamás objected that neither compound is attested in Hungarian.^[2]

The DA, CADE, DEX and MDA2 derive it from Bulgarian буркан (burkan).^{[10][11][12][13]} Capidan and the Bulgarian etymological dictionary held instead that the Bulgarian word came from Romanian: it is dialectal and has no parallels in the other Slavic languages.^[2][14] Wiktionary also lists an internal formation, an augmentative of boroacă (“swelling”), and a link with Italian brocca.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first records are personal names: Borcan in a Wallachian document of 1621–1623, and again in 1628.^[2][3] As a common noun it is in Mardarie's Slavonic–Romanian lexicon of 1649, glossing a Slavonic word for a jug, and DELR dates it from 1678.^[15][2] The Mărgăritare of 1746 speak of a wine jug, borcanul cel de vin, that was always full.^[10][13]

Semantic evolution

The old sense was an earthenware vessel: a pitcher for wine or water, a pot for cooking or for taking food to the fields.^[10][3] The cylindrical vessel for preserves, pickles and ointments, now usually of glass, became the main sense.^[10][12] By analogy it is a jocular word for a big nose, whence borcănat and borcănos “bulbous”.^[10][7][4] In Transylvania măr borcan is a large apple.^[10][13] Moldavia also uses gavanos for the jar.^[3][16] Slang has made it the booth from which the police watch the traffic.^[17]

The word passed into Bulgarian буркан (burkan) and Hungarian borkán.^[2][1]

Timeline

• 1621–1623 – Borcan as a personal name in a Wallachian document.^[2]
• 1628 – the personal name again.^[3]
• 1649 – the common noun in Mardarie's lexicon.^[15]
• 1678 – the common noun, DELR's first record.^[2]
• 1691–1697 – the diminutives burcănaș and burcănel in Corbea's dictionary.^[2]
• 1746 – borcanul cel de vin in the Mărgăritare.^[10][13]
• 1801 – the old plural borcani “jars of pomade”.^[10]
• 1840 – borcănat and borcănos “bulging, bulbous”.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A jar, a cylindrical vessel, usually of glass, for keeping preserves, pharmaceutical preparations and the like.^[12][13][1]
2. A jarful; the jar together with its contents.^[13][1]
3. (dated or regional) An earthenware pitcher or pot for wine or water.^[13][10][11]
4. (figurative, ironic) A big nose.^[13][4]
5. (slang) A traffic police booth.^[17]

Word family

• bocârnat
• borcănaș
• borcănat
• borcănel
• borcănos

Related words

• canceu
• Bulgarian буркан (burkan)

Usage notes

MDA2 records an old plural borcani beside borcane.^[13][10]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. borcan
3. ^ a b c d e f g Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. borcán
4. ^ a b c Dima, Eugenia (coord.) (2007), Dicționar explicativ ilustrat al limbii române, Chișinău: Arc / Gunivas
5. ^ Cihac, A. de (1879), Dictionnaire d'étymologie daco-romane II: Éléments slaves, magyars, turcs, grecs-moderne et albanais, Frankfurt am Main, p. 484
6. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 188
7. ^ 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. borcan
8. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc
9. ^ Mândrescu, Simion (1892), Elemente ungurești în limba română, București: Tipografia Carol Göbl
10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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. borcan
11. ^ a b Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. borcan
12. ^ a b c DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 113
13. ^ 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, 232
14. ^ Georgiev, Vladimir I. et al. (eds.) (1971–), Bălgarski etimologičen rečnik, Sofija: Izdatelstvo na Bălgarskata akademija na naukite, p. 1, 91
15. ^ a b Ungureanu, Mădălina; Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Moruz, Alexandru (eds.), eRomLex: The First Romanian Bilingual Dictionaries (17th century), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. s.v. borcan
16. ^ Stati, Vasile (2003), Dicționar moldovenesc-românesc, Chișinău, p. 33
17. ^ a b Volceanov, George (2007), Dicționar de argou al limbii române, București: Niculescu