glob

Forms

glob n (plural globuri)^[1] In the sense “eyeball” the word is also masculine, with the plural globi: Damé notes that Eminescu wrote globii ochilor “the eyeballs”.^[2][3] Negulici's dictionary of 1848, printed in the transitional alphabet, spells it ГΛOB.^[4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French globe and directly borrowed from Latin globus (“ball, sphere”), a neologism that the dictionaries derive from both languages.^[5][3][6] Tiktin and Scriban give only the Latin word, and the DLRM only the French one.^[7][8][9] Marcu and Maneca start from Latin and compare the French word and Italian globo.^[10] Cihac already set it beside the Italian word, Spanish globo and Portuguese globo.^[11]

The French word was borrowed from Latin in the 14th century.^[12] The Latin word, “round, compact mass”, is probably itself a loanword, connected with glēba (“clod”) and glomus (“ball of thread”).^[13]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to 1770, in the sense “ball, sphere”.^[7] The Lexicon de la Buda of 1825 has globu with the Latin glosses globus and sphaera.^[14] Negulici in 1848 defines it as a round solid body, and also as the earth, the world.^[4]

Semantic evolution

From the general sense of a sphere the word came to name the earth itself and the spherical models of the earth and the sky: glob terestru and glob ceresc are in Costinescu's dictionary of 1870.^[15][3] Its use for the glass globe round a lamp, and later an electric bulb, is in Șăineanu and the CADE.^[16][17] The eye was called globul ochiului by Costinescu and Barcianu; modern usage prefers glob ocular.^[15][18][3] In slang the word also means “head, skull”.^[19]

Timeline

• 1770 – first record, “ball, sphere”.^[7]
• 1825 – globu in the Lexicon de la Buda.^[14]
• 1848 – in Negulici's dictionary of neologisms, “round body; the earth, the world”.^[4]
• 1863 – in Grigore Alexandrescu's collected poems.^[5]
• 1870 – glob terestru and glob ceresc in Costinescu's dictionary.^[15]

Meanings

Noun

1. A spherical or spheroidal body; especially the glass or china globe fitted to a lamp or a light bulb.^[3][5]
2. A spherical model of the earth (glob terestru, glob pământesc, glob geografic) or of the sky (glob ceresc).^[3][5]
3. The Earth, the planet inhabited by people.^[3][6]
4. (masculine, plural globi) glob ocular or globul ochiului: the eyeball.^[3][5]
5. (slang) The head, the skull.^[19]

Related words

• Latin globus
• French globe

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Damé, Frédéric (1893–1895), Nouveau dictionnaire roumain-français, 4 vols., Bucarest: Imprimerie de l'État, p. s.v. glob
3. ^ a b c d e f g h DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 441
4. ^ a b c Negulici, I. D. (1848), Vocabular romînesc de toate vorbele streine întroduse pînă acum în limba romînească și de toate cuvintele ce s-ar mai putea introduce încă, București, p. s.v. glob
5. ^ a b c d e Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 1004
6. ^ a b Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. glob
7. ^ a b c Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. glob
8. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 564
9. ^ Academia Republicii Populare Romîne (1958), Dicționarul limbii romîne moderne, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. s.v. glob
10. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. glob
11. ^ Cihac, A. de (1870), Dictionnaire d'étymologie daco-romane I: Éléments latins comparés avec les autres langues romanes, Frankfurt am Main, p. 110
12. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
13. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
14. ^ a b 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. 239
15. ^ a b c Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 1, 490
16. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 1, 278
17. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. glob
18. ^ Barcianu, Sava Popovici (1886), Dicționar român-germân și germân-român, revised by D. P. Barcianu, part I: român-germân, Sibiu: Institut tipografic, p. 254
19. ^ a b Volceanov, George (2007), Dicționar de argou al limbii române, București: Niculescu, p. s.v. glob