falce

Forms

falce f (plural fălci)^[1] The old plural was falci; a regional form faclă names a measure of length.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin falx (“sickle, scythe”) (accusative falcem).^[4][2][5][6] The measure was originally as much land as one could mow with the scythe in a day.^[7][8][6][9] Ciorănescu treats it as the regular outcome of the Latin word, kept only in the sense of Medieval Latin falcata, a measure of land, while falcă “jaw” is the same Latin word with a sense that grew from the curved shape of the jaw.^[10][11] The Latin word has been derived from Proto-Indo-European *dʰelg- (“to sting; needle”), though both its /a/ and its /k/ are unexpected.^[1][12]

Its Romance cognates include Italian falce, French faux, Occitan faus, Spanish hoz and Portuguese fouce.^[10][6] Scriban adds that the Ukrainian name of the measure comes from the Romanian word.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the word to a Slavonic–Romanian document of 1470.^[5] MDA2 gives a text of before 1588 printed in Hasdeu's Cuvente den bătrâni as its first Romanian record, with the sense of the land measure.^[2] In 1649 Mardarie's lexicon has the plural fălci glossing a Slavonic phrase for measures of land.^[13]

Semantic evolution

In Moldavia the falce was 80 prăjini long and 4 wide, each prăjină of 3 fathoms: 2,880 square fathoms, about 14,322 square metres, roughly a hectare and a half;^[5][14][4] Wallachia measured land in pogoane instead.^[5][14][4] Costinescu (1870) notes that the Moldavians meant by it land set aside for mowing, not for ploughing.^[15] The hectare replaced it as the official measure, and the word now belongs to the past.^[5][16] Laurian and Massim still gave it the sense of a scythe besides the measure.^[17]

Timeline

• 1470 – in a Slavonic–Romanian document.^[5]
• before 1588 – the land measure in a text printed in the Cuvente den bătrâni.^[2]
• 1649 – the plural fălci in Mardarie's lexicon.^[13]
• 1870 – Costinescu's dictionary describes the Moldavian measure.^[15]

Meanings

Noun

1. (historical) An old Moldavian unit of land area, about a hectare and a half; also a plot of land of that size.^[4][16]
2. (regional, in the form faclă) A unit of length of one fathom or about two metres.^[2][3]

Related words

• falcă
• Latin falx

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 873
3. ^ a b Dima, Eugenia (coord.) (2007), Dicționar explicativ ilustrat al limbii române, Chișinău: Arc / Gunivas, p. s.v. falce
4. ^ a b c d DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1, 379
5. ^ a b c d e f Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. falce
6. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
7. ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1, 490
8. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 1, 242
9. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. falce
10. ^ a b 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. falcă
11. ^ Gabinschi, Marcu (2001), Dicționar de dublete etimologice ale limbii române, 2nd ed., Chișinău: Litera, p. 102
12. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
13. ^ a b 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. fălci
14. ^ a b Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 2, 255
15. ^ a b Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 1, 419
16. ^ a b Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. falce
17. ^ Laurian, A. T.; Massim, I. C. (1871–1876), Dictionariulu limbei romane, 2 vols., Bucuresci: Noua Typographia a Laboratoriloru Romani, p. s.v. falce