escroc

Forms

escroc m (plural escroci, feminine equivalent escroacă)^[1] A hypercorrect variant excroc was also used, as in an Ionescu-Rion quotation in the DLR: „Excrocii, potlogarii, samsarii se recrutează toți din această clasă” “swindlers, crooks and brokers are all recruited from this class”.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French escroc, one of the French loans of the 19th century.^[3][4][5][1] The French noun is made from escroquer (“to swindle”), which DELR traces to Italian scroccare (“to get something at another's expense”), or else from scrocco (“sponger, parasite”), recorded in the 16th century.^[3] Scriban also derives it from the Italian noun.^[6] The origin of the Italian word is uncertain: DELR, after DELI and Nocentini, takes the verb as probably formed on crocco (“hook”), a Germanic loan, with a first sense “to snatch with a hook”.^[3] Wiktionary instead traces the noun to Old High German *scurgo.^[1]

The variant excroc, with ⟨ex-⟩ for ⟨es-⟩, is a hypercorrection.^[3][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR's first record is in the newspaper Românul of 12 April 1863, in the sense of a person who gains an advantage by fraud.^[3] Its family is older: escrocherie “swindle” is recorded in 1834 and the verb escroca, as the noun excrocare, in 1852.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The sense has stayed that of the French word: a person who cheats others out of money or goods.^[5][2] The DLR widens it to an advantage gained by fraud, material or not, and lists many popular synonyms, such as pungaș, șarlatan, potlogar and panglicar.^[2] The feminine escroacă is recorded from 1892.^[3]

Timeline

• 1834 – escrocherie “swindle”, from French escroquerie.^[3]
• 1852 – the verb noun excrocare, of escroca “to swindle”.^[3]
• 1863 – escroc in the newspaper Românul, the first record.^[3]
• 1876 – the verb escroca itself.^[3]
• 1892 – the feminine escroacă.^[3]
• 1900 – the first record in MDA2, from Barcianu's dictionary.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A swindler, crook: a person who cheats others and takes their goods or money by fraud; compare șarlatan, pungaș.^[5][4][7]

Word family

• escroca
• escrocherie

Related words

• French escroquer

Usage notes

The feminine is escroacă and the plurals escroci and escroace.^[5][1]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. escroc
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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. escroc
4. ^ a b c Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 831
5. ^ a b c d DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 360
6. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1, 474
7. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. escroc