cepar

Forms

cepar m (plural cepari, feminine equivalent cepăreasă or cepăriță)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Romanian ceapă + -ar, from ceapă (“onion”) with the agent suffix, according to Ciorănescu, MDA2 and DELR.^[2][3][4] Pușcariu, Candrea–Densusianu and the REW take it instead straight from Latin caepārius (“grower or seller of onions”), and DELR and Wiktionary give both views.^[2][5][1][6] The Latin noun, formed on caepa (“onion”), is found in Lucilius.^[7][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is the place name Ceparii “the onion sellers” in a document of 1519.^[4][2] As a common noun, “seller of onions”, MDA2 first finds it in Costinescu's dictionary of 1870.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Beside the seller or grower of onions, the word names an onion pie baked in the oven, recorded from the Hațeg area in 1893, and in folk medicine an abscess under the armpit, as big as an onion.^[2][3][5] These two senses are neuter, with the plural cepare.^[3] The feminine cepăreasă “woman who sells onions” is recorded from 1870, and cepărie “heap of onions; onion field” from 1822.^[2][5]

Timeline

• 1519 – the place name Ceparii, the first record.^[4][2]
• 1822 – cepărie “onion field”.^[2]
• 1870 – cepar “onion seller” and cepăreasă in Costinescu's dictionary.^[3][2]
• 1893 – cepar “onion pie”, from the Hațeg area.^[2][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A seller or grower of onions.^[3][1][9]
2. (regional) An onion pie baked in the oven.^[3][2]
3. (folk medicine) An abscess under the armpit.^[3][10]

Word family

• cepăreasă

Related words

• ceapă
• Latin caepārius

Usage notes

A second cepar, of another origin, is formed on cep “bung”: it is a man who looks after the barrel at a wedding (Muntenia, 1884), and a drill for boring the holes of barrels (Moldavia, 1885).^[11][12] Tiktin also records cepăraș in Moldavia and cepurar in Transylvania for the drill.^[12] Scriban describes it as a very small auger.^[13]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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. ceapă
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 360
4. ^ 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. cepar 1
5. ^ a b c d Candrea, I.-A.; Densusianu, Ov. (1907–1914), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române: elementele latine (A–Putea), București
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 1818
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. cepar
10. ^ Damé, Frédéric (1893–1895), Nouveau dictionnaire roumain-français, 4 vols., Bucarest: Imprimerie de l'État, p. s.v. cepar
11. ^ 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. cep
12. ^ a b Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. cepar 2
13. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 258