idol

Forms

idol m (plural idoli)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Old Church Slavonic идолъ (idolŭ, “idol”), a word of the church language, which is from Ancient Greek εἴδωλον (eídōlon, “image, phantom; idol”).^[2][3][4][1] In Old Church Slavonic the word renders the Greek noun in the Psalter, the Codex Suprasliensis and the Apostolos.^[5][6] Ciorănescu takes it partly straight from Greek, from a form Modern Greek εἴδωλος (eídōlos), and partly through the Slavonic word;^[7][1] Wiktionary also has it come partly through Slavonic.^[7][1] The Greek noun is formed on εἶδος (eîdos, “form”) with a diminutive suffix.^[1]

Ciorănescu gives the same form for Aromanian and Megleno-Romanian; Aromanian idul is taken from Greek, and Megleno-Romanian idol from Bulgarian идол (idol).^[7][1][8] Albanian idhull and Serbo-Croatian idol are cognates in the Balkans.^[7][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first records are in the 16th-century psalters: the Psaltirea Voronețeană (c. 1551–1558) has idolii “the idols” in Psalm 96:7, and the later psalters repeat it.^[9] The Codicele Voronețean has the word in 1 Peter 4:3, of the worship of idols.^[3][4]

Semantic evolution

The word has meant a pagan god and its image from the first texts: the Bucharest Bible of 1688 uses it often, and the 17th-century Slavonic–Romanian lexicons give it for Slavonic words such as kumir and istukan.^[10][11] In popular speech it came to mean “devil, demon”, and then a wicked person: Ispirescu has „Vino de mă scapă de idolul ăsta de vrăjmaș” “come and save me from this devil of an enemy”.^[4][7] Ciorănescu says that this is its popular sense.^[7]

The figurative sense, a person or thing loved or admired beyond measure, is already in Negulici's dictionary of 1848, which says that fashion is the great idol of women.^[12] Scriban adds a Wallachian popular sense, a bad man.^[13]

Timeline

• c. 1551–1558 – idolii in the Psaltirea Voronețeană, Psalm 96:7.^[9]
• c. 1563–1583 – the Codicele Voronețean, 1 Peter 4:3.^[3][4]
• 1649 – Mardarie's Slavonic–Romanian lexicon, glossing kumir.^[11]
• 1688 – frequent in the Bucharest Bible.^[10]
• 1848 – Negulici records the figurative sense “object of passion or devotion”.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. A pagan god; an image, figure or statue representing such a god and worshipped in polytheistic religions.^[2][3]
2. (figurative) A person or thing that is the object of a cult or of great love.^[2][14]
3. (popular) devil, demon; a wicked person.^[3][4][13]

Word family

• idoloaică
• idoliță
• idolesc

Related words

• idolatru
• idolatrie

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 487
3. ^ 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, 1105
4. ^ 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. idol
5. ^ Kurz, Josef; Hauptová, Zoe (eds.) (1958–1997), Slovník jazyka staroslověnského / Lexicon linguae palaeoslovenicae, 4 vols. + supplements, Praha: Academia; digital ed. gorazd.org
6. ^ Vasmer, Max (1964–1973), Ètimologičeskij slovar' russkogo jazyka, transl. and suppl. by O. N. Trubačev, 4 vols., Moskva: Progress
7. ^ a b c d e f 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. idol
8. ^ Capidan, Theodor (1935), Meglenoromânii III: Dicționar meglenoromân, București: Academia Română, p. 154
9. ^ a b Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Ungureanu, Mădălina; Moruz, Alexandru et al., roPsalt: Re-evaluating the Sixteenth Century Romanian Psalters (aligned corpus), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro
10. ^ a b Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition)
11. ^ 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
12. ^ a b 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
13. ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 615
14. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional