holba

Forms

holba (third-person singular present holbează, past participle holbat) 1st conjugation^[1] Variants are holbi, înholba and înholbi; a folk text has „la ea s-a-nholbat” “he stared at it”.^[2][3][1]

Etymology

It is most often explained as inherited from Latin volvō (“to roll, turn”), with a change of conjugation, through the variant volba.^[2][3][4][1] Candrea and Densusianu explain the /h/ for /v/ before a labial as a regional change, as in hulpe for vulpe, and the meaning “to open the eyes wide” through an intermediate “to roll the eyes”.^[5] Ciorănescu accepts the Latin origin but notes that the change of form has not been well explained, and that the word could also be an expressive creation parallel to bulbuca, as holboacă stands beside bolboacă.^[2] MDA2 labels its origin unknown.^[6] The Latin verb goes back to Proto-Indo-European *welw- (“to turn, wind”).^[1][7]

Ciorănescu compares Aromanian volbu, and Wiktionary nvolbu and Megleno-Romanian volb; these name the beam on which the warp is wound, from involvō or a noun *volvum formed on the verb.^{[2][1][8][9][10]} Romance cognates of the Latin verb include Italian volgere, Spanish volver and Portuguese volver.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is of 1793, from a text he cites as Predetici, with the sense “to open the eyes wide, to goggle”.^[3] MDA2 dates the word from a calendar of 1814.^[6] Șăineanu labels it Moldavian.^[11]

Semantic evolution

The transitive verb, used with ochii “the eyes”, means to open the eyes wide in surprise or fear; the reflexive a se holba means to stare at someone or something with wide eyes.^[4][6][3] MDA2 adds a figurative sense “to be too curious”.^[6] The word has given the personal names Holban and Holbe.^[12]

Timeline

• 1793 – holba “to goggle”, the first record Tiktin gives.^[3]
• 1814 – holba in a calendar, MDA2's first record.^[6]
• 1893 – holba in Damé's dictionary, labelled Moldavian, “to open the eyes wide, to stare”.^[13]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive, with ochii) To open the eyes wide, out of wonder or fear; to goggle: A holbat ochii când a văzut prețul.^[4][6]
2. (reflexive) To stare at someone or something with wide-open eyes: Copiii se holbau la vitrină.^[4][6]
3. (reflexive, figurative) To be too curious.^[6]

Word family

• holban
• ghiolbană

Related words

• volbură
• Aromanian volbu
• Latin volvō

References

1. ^ a b c d e 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. holba
3. ^ a b c d e Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. holba
4. ^ a b c d DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 478
5. ^ a b Candrea, I.-A.; Densusianu, Ov. (1907–1914), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române: elementele latine (A–Putea), București, p. s.v. holba
6. ^ 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, 1081
7. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
8. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 793
9. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1121
10. ^ Capidan, Theodor (1935), Meglenoromânii III: Dicționar meglenoromân, București: Academia Română, p. 330
11. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 296
12. ^ Constantinescu, N. A. (1963), Dicționar onomastic romînesc, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. s.v. holba
13. ^ Damé, Frédéric (1893–1895), Nouveau dictionnaire roumain-français, 4 vols., Bucarest: Imprimerie de l'État, p. 1