chel

Forms

chel m or n (feminine singular cheală, masculine plural chei, feminine/neuter plural chele)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ottoman Turkish كل (kel, “bald; scabby”), from Persian کل (kal): DER, DELR, MDA2, DA, Tiktin and DEX agree on the Turkish source, and no Romanian dictionary names another.^{[2][3][4][5][6][7][1]} Șăineanu, whom DER and DA follow, gave the Turkish word the senses "favus, scabies" and "scabby, bald", and listed its Balkan relatives.^[8][2][5] According to Nişanyan the Persian word meant the scalp disease and a person who had lost his hair through it; he connects it with Avestan kaurva of the same meaning and derives both from Proto-Indo-European *kl̥H-wó-s (“bald, skull”), an unattested form.^[9]

The related adjective cheleș is a separate borrowing, from Turkish keleș; it also lives south of the Danube: Aromanian chileș and Megleno-Romanian cheleș.^{[2][3][10][11][12]} In Turkish dialects this word, first “handsome, brave”, came to mean “bald” under the influence of the word for “bald”, and Bulgarian dialects have it in that sense too.^[13]

DER takes chelbe “favus, baldness” from the same Turkish word, through a chain of back-formations: chelboșie gave chelbos, and that gave the noun.^[2] Tiktin, Pușcariu and the DA had derived the noun from Vulgar Latin *calvia, and Philippide from Albanian kjëlp (“pus”);^[2] Ciorănescu rejects both, siding with Șăineanu and Rosetti.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin and DELR date the first record to 1726, as a personal name.^[6][3] MDA2's first record is a proverb in Mumuleanu, quoted in Gaster's chrestomathy: a bald man does not mind whatever he is called, but if he is called bald, he flies into a rage.^[4][5]

Semantic evolution

Besides the bald person or head, the word came to describe animals without hair (porc chel), a mountain or hill without trees, and a kind of winter wheat (grâu chel).^[5][4][3] Vlahuță wrote of a bare mountain „un munte chel; nici un arbore” “a bald mountain, not a single tree”.^[6][5]

The word is at home in proverbs: Ce-i lipsește chelului? Tichie de mărgăritar “What does the bald man lack? A cap of pearls”, said of the poor who want luxuries, or of the unworthy who claim great things.^[6][5][14] DER, following the linguistic atlas, says the word is known only in Muntenia and Moldavia; the DA places it in Muntenia and southern Transylvania, with pleșuv and cheleș used in Moldavia.^[2][5]

Romanian derived cheli “to go bald”, recorded from 1829, and chelie “bald patch”, from 1822.^[3][2]

Timeline

• 1726 – first record, as a personal name.^[6][3]
• 1822 – the derivative chelie “bald patch”.^[3]
• 1829 – the verb cheli “to go bald”.^[3]
• 1837 – cheleș “bald, scabby”, from Turkish keleș.^[3]
• 1900 – the rare noun chilșug “baldness”.^[3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (of people, often as a noun) bald: having lost all or most of the hair on the head;^[7][4][1] (of the head) hairless.^[7][4][1]
2. (of a mountain or hill) bare, without trees or vegetation.^[4][5][15]
3. In grâu chel: a kind of winter wheat.^[4][5]

Word family

• cheli
• chelie
• cheleș
• chelboși
• chelboșie
• chelbe
• chelbos

Usage notes

The masculine plural is chei or cheli, and DEX gives chei.^[2][7] A different word chel, regional in Oltenia and Banat and chil in Transylvania, means “Savoy cabbage”; it is from Transylvanian Saxon, ultimately German Kohl, recorded from 1806.^[3][4][16]

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 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. chel
3. ^ 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. chel
4. ^ 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, 371
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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. chel
6. ^ a b c d e Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. chel
7. ^ a b c d DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 175
8. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1900), Influența orientală asupra limbei și culturei române, vol. I: Introducerea; vol. II.1: Vorbele populare; vol. II.2: Vorbele istorice, literare, Indice, București: Socec, p. 2, 104
9. ^ Nişanyan, Sevan, Nişanyan Sözlük: Çağdaş Türkçenin Etimolojisi (online edition)
10. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 601
11. ^ 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, 121
12. ^ Capidan, Theodor (1935), Meglenoromânii III: Dicționar meglenoromân, București: Academia Română, p. 67
13. ^ Eren, Hasan (1999), Türk Dilinin Etimolojik Sözlüğü, Ankara: Bizim Büro, p. 228
14. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 264
15. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. chel
16. ^ Panțu, Zach. C. (1929), Plantele cunoscute de poporul român. Vocabular botanic cuprinzând numirile române, franceze, germane și științifice, 2nd ed., București: Editura Casei Școalelor, p. 50