inel

Forms

inel n (plural inele)^[1] The Codicele Voronețean has a form with /r/: „Bărbatu cu îrelu de auru” “a man with a gold ring”.^[2][3] The Bible of 1688 has the form inenul “the ring”, with /l/ assimilated to the /n/ before it.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin ānellus (“little ring”), a diminutive of ānulus (“ring”).^{[4][3][2][1][5][6]} Latin unstressed /a/ before /n/ gave /ɨ/, which became /i/ when /e/ followed in the next syllable.^[7] The stressed /e/ did not become /je/ as expected;^[4] Rosetti put this down to the /n/ before it, and Lombard, more probably in Ciorănescu's view, to the unstressed forms.^[4]

It survives in all four branches: Aromanian nel, Megleno-Romanian ninel and Istro-Romanian arel.^{[4][8][9][10]} Pușcariu explains the Aromanian and Megleno-Romanian forms by a wrong division of the word after the indefinite article un.^[6] Byhan finds the Istro-Romanian form odd and suggests the influence of Italian anello.^[10] Other Romance cognates are French anneau, Catalan anell, Spanish anillo and Portuguese elo.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

MDA2 and Tiktin date the first record to the Codicele Voronețean, which speaks of a man with a gold ring, „îrelu de auru”.^[3][11][2] An inventory of 1588 lists a gold ring.^[2]

Semantic evolution

From the finger ring the word spread to any ring or link used to fasten things, the rings of a gymnast, a ring road, the growth rings of a tree and the segments of a worm.^[12][2] Ciorănescu lists “curl, lock of hair” among its senses, and folk poetry uses the plural for the curled hair on an ox's forehead.^[4][2] Tras prin inel “drawn through a ring” describes a slim, graceful person.^[11][12]

Timeline

• 16th century – îrelu in the Codicele Voronețean.^[3][2]
• 1588 – inel in a document.^[2]
• 1688 – inenul in the Bucharest Bible.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A ring worn on the finger, often of precious metal and set with stones;^[12][3][1] inel de logodnă “engagement ring”.^[12][3][1]
2. Any ring-shaped object; a link, a hoop;^[12] (plural) the gymnastic rings.^[12]
3. A ring road round a town.^[12]
4. (plural) The growth rings of a tree.^[12]
5. A segment of the body of a worm.^[12]

Word family

• ineluș
• inelar

Related words

• Aromanian nel
• Latin ānellus

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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. inel
3. ^ a b c d e f Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 1133
4. ^ 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. inel
5. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 452
6. ^ a b Pușcariu, Sextil (1905), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der rumänischen Sprache I: Lateinisches Element, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 73
7. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Densusianu, Ov. (1907–1914), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române: elementele latine (A–Putea), București
8. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 748
9. ^ Capidan, Theodor (1935), Meglenoromânii III: Dicționar meglenoromân, București: Academia Română, p. 206
10. ^ a b Byhan, Arthur (1899), Istrorumänisches Glossar, Sechster Jahresbericht des Instituts für rumänische Sprache zu Leipzig: 174–366, p. 188
11. ^ a b Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. inel
12. ^ a b c d e f g h i DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 504