fel

Forms

fel n (plural feluri)^[1] Old texts spell it făliu and feliu: the Palia de la Orăștie has „după făliul lor” “after their kind”.^[2] The Bucharest Bible of 1688 has „sămânță după feliu-și” “seed after its kind” (Genesis 1:12).^[3] MDA2 records the Moldavian variant feliu and the old spelling fealiu.^[4] Klein's dictionary of 1801 spells it fealiu.^[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Hungarian -féle (“kind of, -like”), a Hungarian suffix found in words such as mindenféle (“of every kind”).^{[5][6][3][2][7]} Wiktionary also names the Hungarian noun fél (“part, half”).^[1] Tamás counts it among the most deeply rooted Hungarian words in Romanian.^[2] Romanian phrases built on it copy Hungarian ones such as sokféle (“of many kinds”) and egyféle (“of one kind”).^[2][7] In Hungarian the suffix does not stand alone, and Romanian turned it into a noun of its own, probably by extracting it from negative phrases meaning “of no kind”.^[2][7]

The Hungarian word also passed into the neighbouring Slavic languages: Ciorănescu cites Serbo-Croatian fela (“class, kind”).^[5][7] Giuglea rejected the Hungarian source and proposed Latin fabella (“little story”) by way of Albanian fjaljë, compare Italian favella;^[8] Ciorănescu finds the Hungarian etymology evident.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Palia de la Orăștie of 1581–1582, in Genesis 41:25.^[3] There, as in „după făliul lor” “after their kind”, it means a kind or species.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

From “kind, species” the word came to mean a way of being or acting, a person's nature, and a custom.^[6][2] Tamás calls these later meanings Romanian developments.^[2] The noun also took the sense “course of a meal”, short for fel de bucate “kind of dish”.^[3][6]

Many fixed phrases grew around it: fel de fel “all kinds of”, la fel “alike”, de felul meu “by nature; by origin; by trade” and a face felul cuiva “to do someone in”.^[6][4] Old texts used the plural phrase feluri de feluri for “all kinds”, as Neculce did.^[7][3] With demonstratives it formed astfel and altfel, on the model of Hungarian phrases.^[7]

Timeline

• 1581–1582 – făliul in the Palia de la Orăștie, the first record.^[3][2]
• 1688 – feliu-și “after its kind” in the Bucharest Bible.^[3]
• c. 1743 – fel de fel and feluri de feluri in Neculce's chronicle.^[7]
• 1801 – fealiu in Klein's dictionary.^[2]
• 1879 – Cihac explains it from the Hungarian -féle.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A way of being or of acting; manner.^[6][1]
2. A sort, kind or variety;^[6] fel de fel “all kinds of”, la fel “in the same way, alike”, un fel de “a sort of”.^[6][1]
3. de felul meu (tău, său): by nature; by origin; by trade;^[6] de fel din “a native of”.^[6][4]
4. a face felul cuiva: to kill or ruin someone.^[6]
5. (regional) A whim, a fancy.^[6][5]
6. A custom or tradition.^[6]
7. A course of a meal: felul întâi “the first course”.^[6][1]

Word family

• feluri
• felurit
• felurime
• astfel
• defel
• altfel

Related words

• Hungarian -féle

Usage notes

In northern speech de fel (now defel) means “not at all”.^[9][5] The plural is feluri.^[6]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Tamás, Lajos (1966), Etymologisch-historisches Wörterbuch der ungarischen Elemente im Rumänischen, Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, p. 324
3. ^ a b c d e f g Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. fel
4. ^ a b c d Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 891
5. ^ a b c d e 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. fel
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 387
7. ^ a b c d e f g 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. fel
8. ^ a b Cihac, A. de (1879), Dictionnaire d'étymologie daco-romane II: Éléments slaves, magyars, turcs, grecs-moderne et albanais, Frankfurt am Main, p. 498
9. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1, 498