fachie

Forms

fachie f (plural fachii)^[1] Dosoftei has the neuter fachi with the plural fachiuri: „Spânzurat și pălit cu fachiuri” “hanged and burnt with torches”.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin facula (“little torch”), a diminutive of fax (“torch”).^{[4][5][6][7][1]} Wiktionary starts from the contracted Vulgar Latin form *facla.^[1] Candrea–Densusianu explain the neuter ⟨fachi⟩, plural ⟨fachiuri⟩, as a new singular made from ⟨fache⟩, which speakers took for a plural.^[8]

Its Romance cognates include Italian fagola, Friulian fale, Old French faille and Occitan falha.^[3][7] The REW explains Spanish hacha and Portuguese facha as crossed with fascis (“bundle”).^[7] făclie and faclă are doublets from the same Latin word, a point Hasdeu discussed in 1883.^[4][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is Dosoftei's lives of the saints (1682–1686), where a martyr is hanged and burnt with torches.^[6][2] Dosoftei also used it figuratively, of a „fache de vicleșug” “torch of deceit” that the stubborn man lights for the wicked, where the Bible of 1688 has luminătoriu.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The general sense “torch” became obsolete, replaced by făclie.^[6][5] In Moldavia, Bucovina, Maramureș and the Oaș country the word lived on in fishing: a bundle of dry reeds or long splinters of fir, smeared with resin or another fuel and lit at night to draw the fish.^[3][2] Damé recorded it as a fishing term in the districts of Suceava and Dorohoi.^[9] Sadoveanu still used it in the 20th century.^[10]

Timeline

• 1682–1686 – fachiuri in Dosoftei's lives of the saints, the first record.^[6][2]
• 1883 – Hasdeu discusses fachie and făclie as doublets.^[4]
• 1898 – a fishing term of Suceava and Dorohoi in Damé.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. (obsolete) A torch.^[6][1]
2. (rare, regional) A torch made of a bundle of dry reeds or strips of wood smeared with a flammable substance, used for fishing at night.^[5][6]

Related words

• făclie
• faclă
• flacără
• Latin facula

Usage notes

The plural is fachii;^[6] MDA2 also gives făchii.^[6] The medical combining form -fachie “of the lens” is a separate word, from Greek through French.^[11]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. fachie
3. ^ a b c d e Academia Română (1913–1949), Dicționarul limbii române (DA), ed. Sextil Pușcariu, tom I (A–B, C, D–De) and tom II (F–I, J–Lojniță), București: Socec / Universul / Monitorul Oficial și Imprimeriile Statului; page scans at cflr-scans.solirom.ro, p. s.v. fachie
4. ^ 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. fachie
5. ^ a b c DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 378
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 871
7. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 3137
8. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Densusianu, Ov. (1907–1914), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române: elementele latine (A–Putea), București, p. s.v. fachie
9. ^ a b Damé, Frédéric (1898), Încercare de terminologie poporană română, București: Stabilimentul Grafic I. V. Socecu, p. 129
10. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 2, 252
11. ^ Andrei, Nicolae (1987), Dicționar etimologic de termeni științifici: elemente de compunere greco-latine, București: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică, p. s.v. fachie