frânghie

Forms

frânghie f (plural frânghii)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin fimbria (“fringe, border”),^{[2][3][4][1][5]} a word used in classical Latin mostly in the plural, fimbriae.^[6][1] The /r/ moved into the first syllable early, as in the other Romance forms;^[7][1] Wiktionary reconstructs Vulgar Latin *frimbia.^[7][1] The same form underlies French frange, from which Italian frangia was borrowed.^[1][8][9] Byck and Graur explained the vowel ⟨i⟩ of the variants from the plural, a view Ciorănescu found insufficient.^[2] Tiktin considered the word probably the same as the variant ⟨frâmbie⟩.^[10]

The older and regional forms frâmbie, frimbie and fimbrie keep the Latin consonants more closely.^[2][3] Romanian lent the word to Slovak frembia and to Ukrainian dialects.^[2][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

MDA2 dates the first record to Dosoftei's verse Psalter, where Candrea and Densusianu found the form frimbie.^[3][7] In old Moldavian texts the word meant a fringe; the rope sense, Tiktin notes, is recorded only from the 18th century, before which funie served.^[10]

Semantic evolution

The Latin sense “fringe” survives in old and regional use: a fringe or tassel, the ornament on the lower edge of a shepherd's bag or of a towel.^[2][3] In the Banat the word names a belt or girdle, in Oltenia a hank of wool, and elsewhere a baby's swaddling band.^[2][3][1] The general sense “rope”, a long cord of twisted fibres, became the standard one;^[10][4] Tiktin distinguishes it from the thicker, longer funie and the odgon “cable”.^[10][4]

Timeline

• 1673 – frimbie in Dosoftei's verse Psalter, the first record.^[3][7]
• c. 1743 – frânghie “rope” in Neculce's chronicle.^[10]
• 1755 – fringhii “ropes” beside thread and linen in a manual on flax and hemp.^[10]
• 1801 – Frânghie glossed Latin fimbria in Klein's dictionary.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. A rope: a long, thick cord of vegetable, animal or synthetic fibres twisted together.^[4][3][1]
2. (regional, Banat) A belt, a girdle.^[2][3][1]
3. (regional, Oltenia) A hank of wool.^[2][1]
4. (regional, dated) A fringe or tassel.^[2][3]

Word family

• frânghier
• frânghierit
• frânghiuță

Related words

• Latin fimbria
• funie

Usage notes

The regional stress frấnghie also occurs.^[4] DEX has a second headword frânghie that only sends the reader to frenghie.^[4][3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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. frînghie
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 941
4. ^ a b c d e f DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 413
5. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 3308
6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d e Candrea, I.-A.; Densusianu, Ov. (1907–1914), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române: elementele latine (A–Putea), București, p. s.v. frînghie
8. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
10. ^ 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. frânghie
11. ^ Gáldi, László (ed.) (1944), Samuel Klein: Dictionarium valachico-latinum. Primul dicționar al limbii române, Budapest: Királyi Magyar Pázmány Péter Tudományegyetemi Román Intézet (Klein's dictionary of 1801, with Gáldi's etymological study), p. 362