diavol

Forms

diavol m (plural diavoli, feminine equivalent diavoliță or diavoloaică)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Old Church Slavonic диꙗволъ (dijavolŭ, “devil”), the word of the Slavonic church texts.^[2][3][4][1] The Slavonic word renders Ancient Greek διάβολος (diábolos), which DELR glosses as “one who divides, who stirs up hatred or envy, who slanders”, and in biblical Greek “devil”.^[2][5] It is a derivative of διαβάλλω (diabállō, “to throw across, to slander”), from δια- (dia-, “through”) and βάλλω (bállō, “to throw”).^[2][1]

Ciorănescu and Tiktin, however, take the word straight from Greek, and Șăineanu from Modern Greek.^[6][7][8] The DLR and Scriban name both Slavonic and Modern Greek διάβολος (diávolos).^[9][10] South of the Danube it is Aromanian dhiavol.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki of the early 16th century, at Psalm 108:5.^[2][11] The psalm is the curse on an enemy: the Psaltirea Scheiană has „pune spre el păcătosul şi diavolul se stea de-a-dereapta lui” “set a sinner over him and let the devil stand at his right hand”.^[9][3]

Semantic evolution

In the old translations the word follows the Greek of the Bible: Tiktin notes that diavol renders διάβολος (diábolos), the tempter of the Gospels, whereas drac renders δαίμων (daímōn), an evil spirit.^[7] The DLR quotes it from the Tetraevanghel of 1574 and Coresi's homilies of 1581 to the Bucharest Bible of 1688 and Antim's sermons.^[9][12]

From the devil the word passed to people: a wicked person, and above all a lively, mischievous child.^[6][4] Tiktin quotes a story with niște diavoli de ochi negri “a pair of devilish black eyes”, where the word means seductive charm.^[7][3] MDA2 also records a machine for pulling stumps out of cleared forest land, and a regional plural for stuffed cabbage rolls.^[3] Ciorănescu reports that the Bulgarians of Transylvania borrowed the Romanian word.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 1500-1520 – diavol in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki, Psalm 108:5, the first record.^[2][11]
• c. 1573-1578 – diavolul in the Psaltirea Scheiană.^[3][9]
• 1574 – in Coresi's Tetraevanghel: „lăsă el diavolul” “the devil left him”.^[9]
• 1632 – the adjective diavolesc “devilish” in Eustratie's Pravila.^[2]
• 1705 – diavolie “wickedness, devilry” in Cantemir.^[2]
• 1827 – the learned adjective diavolicesc, later diabolic (1847).^[2]
• c. 1832 – diavoliță “she-devil” in Iordache Golescu.^[2]
• 1893-1895 – diavoloaică “she-devil” in Damé's dictionary.^[2]
• 1913 – diabolo, the name of a spinning toy.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (religion) The devil, the supreme spirit of evil, who tempts and divides; a demon.^[4][3][1]
2. (figurative) A lively, clever or mischievous child, or by extension a bold, wicked person.^[4][3]
3. (figurative) The power to seduce or captivate.^[3][7]
4. A machine for pulling stumps out of the ground when a forest is cleared.^[3]

Word family

• diavolesc
• diavolește
• diavolie
• diavoliță
• diavoloaică

Related words

• drac
• demon
• Aromanian dhiavol
• Ancient Greek διάβολος (diábolos)

Usage notes

In the phrase pactul cu diavolul “the pact with the devil”, after French pacte avec le diable, the press uses the word for collaboration with evil forces.^[13]

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 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. diavol
3. ^ 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, 706
4. ^ a b c d DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 312
5. ^ Kurz, Josef; Hauptová, Zoe (eds.) (1958–1997), Slovník jazyka staroslověnského / Lexicon linguae palaeoslovenicae, 4 vols. + supplements, Praha: Academia; digital ed. gorazd.org
6. ^ 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. diavol
7. ^ a b c d Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. diavol
8. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 1, 208
9. ^ a b c d e Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. diavol
10. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1, 423
11. ^ a b Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Ungureanu, Mădălina; Moruz, Alexandru et al., roPsalt: Re-evaluating the Sixteenth Century Romanian Psalters (aligned corpus), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. Ps 108:5
12. ^ Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Iov 1:6
13. ^ Dimitrescu, Florica (1997), Dicționar de cuvinte recente, 2nd ed., București: Logos (with the 3rd ed., 2013, in CLRE), p. s.v. diavol