dulap

Forms

dulap n (plural dulapuri)^[1] The plank sense has the masculine plural dulapi (Tiktin's first record of it is of 1770); the other senses have the neuter plural dulapuri.^[2][3] Regional variants are doláf and doláp (Banat), duláb (Bucovina and north-east Transylvania) and duláf (Crișana).^[4][5]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ottoman Turkish دولاب (dolap), from Persian دولاب (dolâb).^[4][2][1][6] DELR glosses the Persian word as “water-mill wheel; a revolving hatch in the wall of a hospital or monastery through which food was passed in; storeroom, cupboard; trickery”, and explains it as a compound of the words for “bucket” and “water”.^[4][7] The word spread to all the Balkan languages.^[3][8] Modern Greek ντουλάπι (ntoulápi) has the same Turkish source.^[9] MDA2 gives the plank sense its own entry, and derives it from a different Turkish word.^[5]

It also occurs south of the Danube: Aromanian dulape and Megleno-Romanian dulap, each borrowed from Turkish.^{[6][10][11][12][13]} Ciorănescu derives Hungarian duláp from Serbian rather than from Romanian.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is a document of 1761 published by Iorga, which lists two dulapuri together with the shelves.^[4][14] The plank sense is recorded from 1770, and MDA2's first record is a manuscript translation of 1793.^[3][5]

Semantic evolution

The Turkish word named anything that turns, and Romanian kept several of those senses: the wheel that drives a water mill, the reel on which silk is drawn and, in Muntenia, the Easter swing on a turning frame (Moldavian scrânciob).^[4][8] A document of 1790 has the dulapul for the Easter feast set up at Radu-Vodă for the people's amusement, and a document of 1819 mentions the women of Bucharest who draw silk cu dulapuri.^[8] The sense of “trick” also came with the word: a învârti dulapuri or a trage cuiva un dulap “to play a trick on someone”, used by Anton Pann.^[3][5]

The furniture sense, a cupboard with shelves for clothes, dishes or books, is the main one today.^[2] A thick plank, plural dulapi, was a timber term; the compound cifte-dulap, a pair of such planks carried in a raft, dates from 1776.^[4] Regional senses include a wall niche, a market stall and a warping frame.^[4][15]

Timeline

• 1761 – first record, “two cupboards and the shelves”, in a document.^[4][14]
• 1770 – the plural dulapi “planks”.^[3]
• 1776 – cifte-dulap, a pair of thick planks.^[4]
• 1790 – the Easter swing at Radu-Vodă in Bucharest.^[8]
• 1819 – wheels for drawing silk in Bucharest.^[8]
• 1838 – dulăpit “shut in a cupboard”, a jocular word in Gorjan.^[4]
• 1841 – the diminutive dulăpaș.^[4]
• 1861 – the diminutive dulăpior.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A cupboard or wardrobe: a piece of wooden or metal furniture with shelves for clothes, linen, dishes or books (plural dulapuri).^[2][1]
2. A wide, thick plank (plural dulapi).^[2][5]
3. (popular) a fairground swing or merry-go-round.^[2][5]
4. (regional) a wheel: of a water mill, or for drawing silk.^[5][16]
5. (figurative, popular) a trick or hoax: a-i trage cuiva un dulap “to play a trick on someone”.^[5][17]

Word family

• dulăpaș
• dulăpior
• dulăpar
• dulăpărie

Related words

• scrânciob
• Aromanian dulape

Usage notes

Dulapul miresei is a popular name for the bride's dowry chest.^[5] In slang a dulap is a big, hulking man.^[18]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 335
3. ^ 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. dulap
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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. dulap
5. ^ 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, 769
6. ^ a b c 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. dulap
7. ^ Eren, Hasan (1999), Türk Dilinin Etimolojik Sözlüğü, Ankara: Bizim Büro, p. 116
8. ^ a b c d e 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. II/1, 164
9. ^ Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας, p. 995
10. ^ 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, 131
11. ^ Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net), p. 419
12. ^ Saramandu, Nicolae (coord.) et al. (2010–), Dicționarul dialectului meglenoromân, general și etimologic, fascicles in Fonetică și dialectologie XXIX–, p. 178
13. ^ Capidan, Theodor (1935), Meglenoromânii III: Dicționar meglenoromân, București: Academia Română, p. 119
14. ^ a b Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. dulap
15. ^ Marin, Maria; Mărgărit, Iulia, Glosar dialectal. Muntenia, București: Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti”, p. 139
16. ^ Bulgăr, Gheorghe; Constantinescu-Dobridor, Gheorghe (2002), Dicționar de arhaisme și regionalisme, 2 vols., București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. dulap
17. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 452
18. ^ Volceanov, George (2007), Dicționar de argou al limbii române, București: Niculescu, p. s.v. dulap