flacără

Forms

flacără f (plural flăcări)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *flacula, from Latin facula (“little torch”), the diminutive of fax (“torch”).^[2][3][1] This etymon has been generally accepted since Gustav Meyer and Pușcariu.^[2][4][5] The /l/ after the initial /f/ is the point of debate: Ciorănescu sees an expressive /l/ of the kind that often follows an initial /f/, as in flămând and in Italian fiaccola, while others explain it by contamination with flamma (“flame”) or with a form *flacca.^[2] Tiktin allows the influence of the word for “flame” and of flagrō (“to blaze”).^[6] Pușcariu compared Sardinian flacca and Albanian flakë (“flame”), which point to that same form in place of the Classical diminutive, and noted that Aromanian flacă is a borrowing from Albanian.^[4] Wiktionary calls the word probably a doublet of fachie.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to 1703.^[6] He and MDA2 quote a Logică printed in Gaster's chrestomathy, where the phoenix flaps its wings until it sets itself alight, „până să-și aprindă flacără”;^[6][3][7] MDA2 dates that text before 1828 and takes it as the first record.^[6][3][7]

Semantic evolution

The word names the burning mass of gas that rises from something on fire, and the tongue of fire itself.^[8][3] In the phrase a fi în flăcări it means “to be ablaze”.^[8] The figurative senses are passion, warmth and brilliance, as in flacăra dragostei “the flame of love”.^[8][9] Oltenia has the variant fleacără, and besides the plural flăcări the dictionaries record flacări and the old flacăre.^[3][6] Derivatives are flăcăra “to flame”, flăcărie and înflăcăra “to inflame”.^[2]

Timeline

• 1703 – the first record, according to Tiktin.^[6]
• before 1828 – a Logică printed in Gaster's chrestomathy, MDA2's first record.^[3]
• 1825 – flacără glossed with Latin “flamma” in the Lexicon de la Buda.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. A flame: the burning gas that rises from something on fire, giving off heat and light; a tongue of fire.^[8]
2. (figurative) Passion, ardour; warmth; brilliance.^[8]

Word family

• flăcăra
• flăcărie
• flăcăros
• înflăcăra

Related words

• fachie
• flamă
• Latin facula

Usage notes

A fi în flăcări means “to be on fire, to burn fiercely”: Toată casa era în flăcări.^[8]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d 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. flacără
3. ^ a b c d e f Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 913
4. ^ a b Pușcariu, Sextil (1905), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der rumänischen Sprache I: Lateinisches Element, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 53
5. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 3137
6. ^ 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. flacără
7. ^ a b Gaster, M. (1891), Chrestomatie română: texte tipărite și manuscrise (sec. XVI–XIX), dialectale și populare, cu o introducere, gramatică și un glosar româno-francez, vol. II, Leipzig: Brockhaus / București: Socec
8. ^ a b c d e f DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 398
9. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 512
10. ^ Lesicon românescu-latinescu-ungurescu-nemțescu quare de mai mulți autori, în cursul a trideci și mai multor ani s-au lucrat (1825), Buda: Typographia Universității (the Lexicon of Buda, ed. Petru Maior et al.), p. 219