inelar

Forms

inelar m or n (feminine singular inelară, masculine plural inelari, feminine/neuter plural inelare)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Romanian inel + -ar, from inel “ring”.^[2][3][4] Scriban adds that the adjective follows anular “annular”.^[5] Wiktionary also allows a *anellārius, formed on Latin anellus (“little ring”), which comes from ānus (“ring”).^[1] Cihac compared Latin ānulārius and Italian anellaro.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to 1703, for the ring finger.^[4] MDA2's first record, for the adjective “ring-shaped”, is Culianu's course in cosmography of 1895.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The noun names the finger on which a ring is worn, the fourth finger of the hand;^[4][5] Ispirescu describes a children's game in which the ring finger is bent.^[4][5] The adjective means “ring-shaped”.^[3] The lackey moth is called inelar because it lays its eggs in rings around the twigs of fruit trees and oaks.^[3][7] A maker or seller of rings is a rare sense; Ștef records it in Maramureș.^[3][8]

Timeline

• 1703 – the ring finger, the first record.^[4]
• 1895 – the adjective “ring-shaped” in Culianu's course in cosmography.^[2]
• 1955–1957 – the moth and the ring finger as two entries in DLRLC.^[7]

Meanings

Adjective

1. annular, ring-shaped.^[3][1]

Noun

1. The lackey moth, a yellowish-brown moth that lays its eggs in rings on the branches of fruit trees and oaks and whose caterpillars do great damage.^[3][2]
2. The ring finger, between the middle finger and the little finger.^[3][1]
3. (rare) A maker or seller of rings, a jeweller.^[3][8]

Related words

• inel
• inelat
• anular

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 1133
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. 504
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. inelár
5. ^ a b c Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1, 637
6. ^ Cihac, A. de (1870), Dictionnaire d'étymologie daco-romane I: Éléments latins comparés avec les autres langues romanes, Frankfurt am Main, p. 125
7. ^ a b Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 2, 513
8. ^ a b Ștef, Dorin (2021), Dicționar de regionalisme și arhaisme din județul Maramureș, 3rd ed., Baia Mare, p. s.v. inelár