furnicel

Forms

furnicel m (plural furnicei)^[1] Old and regional forms are funicel, funecel, funincel, furincel and the plural funigei.^[2][3] The Bucharest Bible of 1688 has funecei: „Sau om la care va fi într-însul râie sălbatică sau funecei” “or a man who has a wild scab or boils on him” (Leviticus 21:20).^[4][5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *furuncellus, formed in place of Latin furunculus (“boil; petty thief”).^{[3][2][4][5][1]} The etymon was proposed by Ovid Densusianu in the journal Romania (vol. 33) and is accepted by Candrea and Densusianu (no. 692), the REW and the DA.^[3][5] The Latin noun is a diminutive of fūr (“thief”).^[6]

It survives south of the Danube as Aromanian furuntsel, with variants such as furnitsel and frintsel.^[7][4] Wiktionary takes this word and the Aromanian variant to have been influenced later by furnică “ant”.^[1] Ciorănescu sees in the variants a confusion with funigel and with furnicei “nettle rash”, the latter explained by the idea of a sting.^[3] furuncul is a doublet, borrowed from Latin in the 19th century.^[3][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is a glossary of about 1600 published by Hasdeu, where funicel renders a Slavonic word for a scab.^[4][5] A manuscript translation of Leviticus 26:16, also published by Hasdeu, threatens „cu cutremur și cu funicei cu friguri” “with trembling and with boils and with fevers”.^[4] The 17th-century Slavonic–Romanian lexicons have funicel too.^[8]

Semantic evolution

In the old texts the word covers skin eruptions of several kinds.^[4] Tiktin notes funincel in Molnar's grammar and the plural furnicei “nettle rash” in Polizu.^[4] The DA describes the furnicel as a boil under the skin about the size of a grain of maize, which ripens and bursts; such boils come out many at once.^[5] MDA2 adds the senses “furunculosis” and a synonym of păducel.^[2] N. Leon's folk medicine of 1903, MDA2's first record, has the plural funigei for smaller boils.^[2][5]

Timeline

• c. 1600 – funicel in a Slavonic–Romanian glossary published by Hasdeu.^[4]
• c. 1660–1670 – funicel in the Slavonic–Romanian lexicon Lex.St.^[8]
• 1688 – funecei in the Bucharest Bible, Leviticus 21:20.^[4]
• 1903 – funigei in N. Leon's study of folk medicine.^[2][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. (popular, regional) A boil, furuncul.^[2][5][1]
2. (popular) Furunculosis, an outbreak of many boils.^[2]
3. (regional) The same as păducel.^[2]

Related words

• furuncul
• funigel
• furnică
• Aromanian furuntsel
• Latin furunculus

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 956
3. ^ 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. furnicel
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. funicél
5. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. furnicél
6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. fūrunculus
7. ^ Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net), p. 476
8. ^ 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. funicel