buzunar

Forms

buzunar n (plural buzunare)^[1] Regional and old variants include buzdunar, bozdonar (Transylvania), bozânar and pozânar (Oltenia, Muntenia), posunar (Banat, Muntenia), pozunar and poznar, and the old bozinar, burdunar, bursunar and pojinar.^[2][3] Barac wrote bozinar: „avea el ceva bani în bozinari” “he had some money in his pocket”.^[4] Besides the plural buzunare there is a rarer, mainly Moldavian buzunări, as in the saying „lapte acru-n călămări, chiu și vai prin buzunări” “sour milk in the inkpots, woe in the pockets”, said of poor clerks.^[3][5][6]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Modern Greek μπουζουνάρα (bouzounára, “large pocket”), as Cihac proposed and as Ciorănescu, CADE and DEX give it.^{[7][8][9][10][4][1]} Ciorănescu traces the Greek word to Ancient Greek ζωνάριον (zōnárion, “girdle”) and compares Turkish zunnar (“a monk's girdle”).^[7] DELR takes the word from Byzantine Greek *μπουζουνάρι (*bouzounári) or μπουζουνάρα (bouzounára), from *ὑποζωνάριον (*hupozōnárion), built on ὑποζώνη (hupozṓnē, “girdle”), from ὑπο- (hupo-, “under”) and ζώνη (zṓnē, “girdle”).^[2] Kriaras derives the medieval Greek word from the same reconstructed form and compares the Romanian and Aromanian forms.^[11] Scriban also starts from a Greek compound of “under” and “girdle”.^[5]

DELR, after Mihăescu, argues against a Modern Greek loan: the word is old, widespread and found in Aromanian as well, and it is not the usual Greek word for a pocket, so the borrowing is probably early.^[2] The variants with ⟨p-⟩ may reflect a Greek form with /p/, such as dialectal πουζνάρα (pouznára).^[2] The word survives south of the Danube as Aromanian buzunar.^[12][13][14] Cihac's link with French poche is rejected by Tiktin.^[8][15]

Earliest recorded meaning

A personal name Stan Buznar of 1563 may be an early trace, though DELR calls it uncertain.^[2][15] The first sure record is in the Hronograf of about 1660, in the sense “a small bag sewn into clothes”.^[2] Nicolae Costin's chronicle has it with the same sense: money taken out of a pocket.^[4][3]

Semantic evolution

The meaning has stayed “pocket”, and the word has given many phrases.^[10][3] Bani de buzunar “pocket money” was formed after French or German, the DA says.^[4] Others are a fi (tot) cu mâna în buzunar “to be generous” or “to be always spending”, a avea pe cineva în buzunar “to have someone in one's power”, and de buzunar “pocket-sized”, hence “small, of little value”.^[10][3] MDA2 also records a-i mânca rațele din buzunar “to be small, puny and foolish”.^[3]

The verb buzunări “to pick someone's pocket” and its nouns buzunărit and buzunăreală “pickpocketing” are Romanian formations.^[7][2] Ciorănescu calls îmbuzunări “to pocket” a rare, artificial word modelled on French empocher.^[7]

Timeline

• 1563 – the personal name Stan Buznar, an uncertain early record.^[2][15]
• c. 1660 – buzunar “pocket” in the Hronograf, the first sure record.^[2]
• early 18th century – Nicolae Costin's chronicle.^[3][4][16]
• 1847 – the diminutive buzunăraș in Anton Pann.^[2]
• 1862 – buzunări, buzunărit and îmbuzunări in Pontbriant's dictionary.^[2]
• 1867 – buzunărit “pocket money” in Alecsandri.^[2]
• 1912 – buzunăreală in Arghezi.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A pocket: a small bag sewn into or onto a garment for carrying small things.^[10][3][1]
2. (in de buzunar) Pocket-sized; by extension small, or of little value: un dicționar de buzunar.^[10][3]

Word family

• buzunăraș
• buzunăreală
• buzunărel
• buzunări
• buzunărit
• îmbuzunări

Related words

• Aromanian buzunar

Usage notes

Bani de buzunar means pocket money, and a da din buzunar means to pay out of one's own money for a loss one is not responsible for.^[10][3] The plural is buzunare;^[3] buzunări is rare.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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. buzunar
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 270
4. ^ 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. buzunar
5. ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 211
6. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1, 307
7. ^ a b c d 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. buzunar
8. ^ a b Cihac, A. de (1879), Dictionnaire d'étymologie daco-romane II: Éléments slaves, magyars, turcs, grecs-moderne et albanais, Frankfurt am Main, p. 641
9. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească
10. ^ a b c d e f DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 129
11. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
12. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 233
13. ^ Pascu, Giorge (1925), Dictionnaire étymologique macédoroumain, 2 vols. (I: Les éléments latins et romans; II: Les éléments grecs, turcs, slaves, albanais, germaniques, magyars, néologismes, créations immédiates, obscurs), Iași: Cultura Națională, p. 2, 20
14. ^ Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net), p. 221
15. ^ 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. buzunar
16. ^ Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. gardă