cărbunar

Forms

cărbunar m (plural cărbunari, feminine equivalent cărbunăreasă)^[1]

Etymology

Ciorănescu, DELR and Wiktionary take it as inherited from Latin carbōnārius (“charcoal burner”), following Pușcariu, Candrea and Densusianu, the REW and the DA.^[2][3][1][4] The Latin noun is formed on carbō (“charcoal”) with the suffix -ārius, and Plautus already has it.^[5] DEX, MDA2 and Tiktin see instead a Romanian formation on cărbune with the suffix -ar, and DELR gives that view too.^[6][7][8][3]

It survives as Aromanian cãrbunar and Istro-Romanian cărburǫr.^[2][9] DELR writes the Istro-Romanian form cărburår.^[3] The Romance cognates include Italian carbonaio, French charbonnier, Catalan carboner, Spanish carbonero and Portuguese carvoeiro.^[2][4] The sense “carbonaro” follows Italian carbonaro.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is a Transylvanian place name of 1424, and Cărbunari is recorded as a place name in 1597.^[8] DELR dates the common noun “one who makes or sells charcoal” to 1691–1697, and MDA2 to a text of before 1705 in Gaster's chrestomathy.^[3][7]

Semantic evolution

The first sense is the charcoal burner and charcoal seller.^[3][6] With the coal mines the word could also mean a miner.^[7][10] Early in the 19th century cărvunari was the name of young revolutionaries, after the Italian Carbonari.^[8] Folk names give it to a water bird, the cormorant, and in Maramureș to two species of rampion (Phyteuma).^[7][8][11]

Timeline

• 1424 – a Transylvanian place name.^[8]
• 1597 – the place name Cărbunari.^[8]
• 1691–1697 – cărbunar “charcoal maker or seller”, and cărbunărie “place where charcoal is made”.^[3]
• before 1705 – a record in Gaster's chrestomathy.^[7]
• 1871 – the feminine cărbunăreasă.^[3]
• 1893 – cărbunărie “the charcoal burner's trade”.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A charcoal burner: a worker who makes charcoal from wood.^[6][7]
2. A coal seller.^[6][7][1]
3. (dated) A coal miner.^[7][10][1]
4. (historical) A carbonaro, a member of a secret revolutionary society.^[8][1]
5. (ornithology) The cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo).^[7][8]
6. (botany, Maramureș) The spiked rampion (Phyteuma spicatum) and a related species.^[7][11]

Word family

• cărbunăreasă
• cărbunărie

Related words

• cărbune
• carbonar
• Aromanian cãrbunar

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c 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. cărbunar
3. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. cărbunar
4. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 1676
5. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1, 160
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 330
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. cărbunar
9. ^ 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
10. ^ a b Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1, 369
11. ^ a b Ștef, Dorin (2021), Dicționar de regionalisme și arhaisme din județul Maramureș, 3rd ed., Baia Mare, p. s.v. cărbunár