farsă

Forms

farsă f (plural farse)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French farce.^[2][3][4][1] The neologism dictionaries add Italian farsa as a second source.^[5][6]

The French word, first meaning “stuffing”, continues the feminine of Old French fars, from Latin farsus, the past participle of farciō (“to fatten, to stuff”).^[7][8] The comic interludes in the vernacular inserted into religious services were compared to stuffing in meat, and the word came to mean “an amusing story” (1370) and then “a short comic play” (1448); the sense “joke, trick” is older, from 1330.^[7] The same Latin verb gave Romanian infarct, through French.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

MDA2's first record is Gherea's Studii critice (1890), which calls Caragiale's D-ale carnavalului a farce-comedy.^[2][9]

Semantic evolution

The theatrical sense came first, a light comedy whose humour comes from witty lines and funny situations rather than from the study of character.^[4][3] The DA of 1913 already has the second sense, a joke played on someone, as in a face o farsă cuiva “to play a trick on someone”.^[4] Scriban adds “a ridiculous imitation of something noble”, as in his example patriotismul lui e o farsă “his patriotism is a farce”.^[10][11] Marcu also records the French culinary sense “stuffing” for minced, seasoned meat.^[6] Romanian borrowed farsor “joker, prankster” from French farceur.^[2]

Timeline

• 1890 – first record, in Gherea's Studii critice.^[2]
• 1913 – the senses “comedy” and “prank” in the DA, with farsor.^[4][2]
• 1966 – the compound farsă-vodevil “farce-vaudeville”.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. A farce: a comedy of light, situational humour, buffoonery, amusing plots and witty lines.^[3][2]
2. A prank, a practical joke played on someone for fun; the means used for it; păcăleală, festă.^[3][2]
3. (figurative) A ridiculous sham, a mockery of something serious.^[10][11]

Related words

• farsor
• infarct
• French farce

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 878
3. ^ a b c d DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 382
4. ^ a b c d 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. farsă
5. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România
6. ^ a b Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual
7. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b Graur, Alexandru (1980), Cuvinte înrudite, București: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică, p. 43
9. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 2, 261
10. ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 494
11. ^ a b Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 244
12. ^ Dimitrescu, Florica (1997), Dicționar de cuvinte recente, 2nd ed., București: Logos (with the 3rd ed., 2013, in CLRE)