drag

Forms

drag m or n (feminine singular dragă, plural dragi)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Old Church Slavonic драгъ (dragŭ, “precious, dear”), from Proto-Slavic *dorgъ (“dear”).^{[2][3][4][5][1][6]} Ciorănescu compares Bulgarian драг (drag), Serbo-Croatian drag and Hungarian drága.^[3] The Hungarian word is itself a South or West Slavic loan.^[7]

The masculine vocative ends in -ă, like the feminine.^[3] Tiktin explained this from the Slavonic neuter драго (drago).^[3]

The Proto-Slavic adjective is continued by Russian дорогой (dorogój), Polish drogi and Czech drahý, all meaning “dear”.^[8][9] Vasmer thinks it probably related to Latvian dārgs (“dear”).^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to 1365, in a Wallachian charter written in Slavonic (the Documenta Romaniae Historica, series B).^[10] DELR's first is the personal name Dragul in a document of 1376, and the common word in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki of the early 16th century.^[2] The Codicele Voronețean already uses it for “beloved”: „nu vă blăznireți, frații miei ceia dragii” “do not go astray, my beloved brothers”.^[5][4]

Semantic evolution

The Slavonic sense “precious, costly” survived in old texts: Coresi writes that the words of the Lord are „mai dragi decât aurul” “dearer than gold”.^[5][6] The sense “beloved” then took over, with the construction mi-e drag “I love him, I like it”.^[11][10]

Used as a noun, drag came to mean “love, affection” (de dragul cuiva “for someone's sake”) and “sweetheart”.^[11][12] The invariable vocative dragă became a general term of address, and dragă Doamne an ironic “so to speak”.^[13][11]

The adjective gave drăgălaș “charming” and îndrăgi “to grow fond of”.^[2][3] dragoste “love” is a separate loan from Slavonic.^[2] The Slavic stem also gave many personal names, such as Dragomir and Dragoș.^[14]

Timeline

• 1365 – in a Wallachian Slavonic charter, the first record.^[10]
• 1376 – the personal name Dragul.^[2]
• c. 1500–1520 – the common word in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki.^[2]
• 1560–1561 – dragoste “love” in Coresi's Tetraevanghel.^[2]
• 1563 – drăgului “to caress”.^[2]
• c. 1563–1583 – dragii “beloved” in the Codicele Voronețean.^[4][5]
• 1649 – in Mardarie's Slavonic–Romanian lexicon.^[15]
• c. 1650 – drăgălaș “charming”.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. dear, beloved: loved and valued by someone: prietenul meu cel mai drag.^[11][4]
2. (dated) Precious, costly.^[4][5]

Noun

1. (familiar) A term of address to a loved one: dragul meu, dragă.^[11][12]
2. A sweetheart, lover.^[11][12]
3. (neuter) Love, affection: de dragul copiilor “for the children's sake”.^[11][16]

Word family

• drăgălaș
• drăgălășenie
• drăgălășie
• drăgăli
• drăgălui
• drăguț
• îndrăgi

Related words

• dragoste
• Hungarian drága

Usage notes

Dragă “dredge” has a separate source, French drague.^[17][4] Dragă Doamne means “so to speak, supposedly”.^[11]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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. drag
3. ^ a b c d e 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. drag
4. ^ a b c d e f Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 751
5. ^ 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. drag
6. ^ a b Kurz, Josef; Hauptová, Zoe (eds.) (1958–1997), Slovník jazyka staroslověnského / Lexicon linguae palaeoslovenicae, 4 vols. + supplements, Praha: Academia; digital ed. gorazd.org
7. ^ Zaicz, Gábor (ed.) (2006), Etimológiai szótár: magyar szavak és toldalékok eredete, Budapest: Tinta Könyvkiadó
8. ^ Derksen, Rick (2008), Etymological Dictionary of the Slavic Inherited Lexicon, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 4, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 113
9. ^ a b Vasmer, Max (1964–1973), Ètimologičeskij slovar' russkogo jazyka, transl. and suppl. by O. N. Trubačev, 4 vols., Moskva: Progress
10. ^ 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. drag
11. ^ a b c d e f g h DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 329
12. ^ a b c Breban, Vasile (1980), Dicționar al limbii române contemporane de uz curent, București: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică, p. s.v. drag
13. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 445
14. ^ Constantinescu, N. A. (1963), Dicționar onomastic romînesc, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. s.v. drag
15. ^ Ungureanu, Mădălina; Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Moruz, Alexandru (eds.), eRomLex: The First Romanian Bilingual Dictionaries (17th century), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. s.v. drag
16. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. drag
17. ^ DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 330