doar

Forms

doar^[1] Variants: doară (the older form, still used regionally), dor and doră.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

Its origin is not certain.^[4] DELR, MDA2, DEX and the DLR hold that it is probably inherited from Latin dē hōrā (“from the hour”), that is dē and hōra (“hour”), or, as a Romanian formation, de and oară; the sense would have moved from “at a certain moment” to “at some time” and “perhaps”.^[4][2][3][5] Wiktionary sees ⟨doar⟩ as a reduction of ⟨doară⟩.^[1]

Other views: Tiktin proposed Vulgar Latin *volat for velit (“he may want”), which DELR finds acceptable in meaning but hard to fit in date and form;^[4] Philippide proposed Latin dolet (“it hurts”);^[4] Ciorănescu identified it with dar;^[4] Pușcariu derived it from Latin aut vērō, and Procopovici from ⟨a doua oară⟩ “the second time”.^[4] DELR rejects the last two on grounds of form and meaning.^[4]

According to DELR the first sense was modal (“perhaps”); the restrictive sense “only” is much later, probably from contexts such as ⟨numai doară⟩ where the word meant “at most”.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR's first record is the form doară in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki of about 1500, and MDA2 too dates the word there.^[4][2] Tiktin's first record is in the Codicele Voronețean; he defines the word as marking something as doubtful, “perhaps, by any chance”.^[6]

Semantic evolution

In the old language doar (doară) marked something as uncertain, “perhaps, by any chance”, and introduced questions, often after au, as in Varlaam's Cazania, quoted by Tiktin: „Au doară ești tu mai mare decât părintele nostru Iacov?” “Are you perhaps greater than our father Jacob?”.^[6][4] It also meant “if” and “so that ... not”.^[4] The sense “only”, the most common today, is the latest.^[4] Other modern uses are “surely, as everybody knows”, at the start of a sentence, and “in the hope that”, often doubled as doar-doar.^[3][4]

Timeline

• c. 1500 – doară in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki, the first record.^[4]
• 16th century – “perhaps” in the Codicele Voronețean.^[6]
• 1688 – doară in the Bucharest Bible.^[6]

Meanings

Adverb

1. only, just, merely: Am stat doar o oră.^[3][2]
2. Surely, after all, as is well known: Doar te-am avertizat!^[3][1]
3. Perhaps, probably; in the hope that: Doar-doar o veni.^[3][4]
4. (regional, in questions) perhaps, by any chance.^[3][4]

Word family

• doar-doar

Related words

• oară
• de

Usage notes

Fără doar și poate means “without a doubt” and într-o doară “at random”.^[3][4] Doar că nu means “almost”.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 737
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 324
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r 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. doar
5. ^ Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. doar
6. ^ 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. doar