jaf

Forms

jaf n (plural jafuri)^[1] The old form jac occurs in Miron Costin: „Alte cete pre la mânăstiri au purces în jac” “other bands set out to plunder the monasteries”.^[2] The Bucharest Bible of 1688 has jah: „Și casa lui va fi în jah” “and his house shall be given up to plunder” (Ezra 6:11).^[2] MDA2 also lists the regional variants jah, jac (Moldavia) and jau (Banat).^[3]

Etymology

Its origin is disputed.^[4][5] DEX, DLRM and Wiktionary give it as borrowed from Polish żak, and MDA2 names both the Polish word and Hungarian zsák (“sack”).^[6][7][1][3] Tiktin also takes the old form jac from Polish, and notes that the Polish word, like Italian sacco and French sac in the same sense of “plunder”, goes back to German Sack (“sack”).^[2] Ciorănescu traces it to the Italian word, reached either through the Hungarian one (the view of Philippide and the DAR) or through Polish (Cihac and Tiktin).^[4] The DA likewise sees the Italian phrase mettere a sacco (“to sack”) behind it, with the form in /k/ coming through Hungarian or Polish.^[5]

None of these routes is smooth.^[4] Ciorănescu points out that the Polish word is rare and that the Hungarian word means only “sack”; only its derivatives zsákolni (“to plunder”) and zsákmány (“plunder, booty”) have the right sense.^[4][5] The DA adds that the Polish word is dialectal and may itself be borrowed from Romanian.^[5] The Hungarian noun, recorded from 1399 in the sense “plunder”, comes from German, compare Middle High German socman (“plunderer”).^[8]

The change of the final consonant, /k/ > /h/ > /f/, is also debated.^[4] Tiktin explains it by an old German pronunciation with aspirated /k/, and the DA by a crossing with a Ruthenian word for “terror”.^[4][5] Ciorănescu holds that it happened inside Romanian, since all three forms are well recorded, and compares doctor > doftor.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to 1587, in a Slavo-Romanian document.^[2] MDA2 and the DA cite a document from before 1621, in the form jac, meaning “plunder” by invading troops: „Adevăr, la jac ei [Tătarii] au intrat [în țară]” “truly, the Tatars came into the country to plunder”.^[3][5] Ciorănescu also dates jac from the beginning of the 17th century.^[4]

Semantic evolution

In the old texts the word means plunder and devastation, above all by soldiers in war, by invaders or by oppressive rulers, and more rarely the plundered goods themselves.^[5] The DA notes that it partly replaced the older pradă, being more expressive, and often appears beside pradă and măcel.^[5] Phrases such as a da în jaf “to give up to plunder” and a lăsa jaf “to leave to be plundered” come from this sense.^[2][9]

From “plunder” the word moved to waste and squandering: jaf în ciuperci! is said to show indifference to a loss thought small.^[5][6] The DLRLC records a further sense, the extortion of wealth by exploitation or fraud.^[9] Recent slang uses it for a worthless old thing, especially a wrecked car, and for goods of poor quality or dubious origin.^[10][11]

Timeline

• 1587 – first record, in a Slavo-Romanian document.^[2]
• before 1621 – jac “plunder” in a document published by Iorga.^[3][5]
• 1688 – jaf and jah in the Bucharest Bible.^[12][2]
• c. 1705 – „Fu de jaf toată averea lui” “all his goods were given up to plunder” in a manuscript.^[2]
• 1801 – jáf with the Hungarian gloss martalék “prey” in Klein's dictionary.^[13]
• 1825 – Jafu, glossed with Latin praeda “booty”, in the Lexicon de la Buda.^[14]
• 2001 – the slang sense “old wreck” in the press.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. robbery with violence; plunder: a face jaf “to plunder”;^[6][3] jaf armat “armed robbery”.^[6][3]
2. (dated) Plundered goods, booty, spoils of war.^[6][3]
3. (colloquial) waste, spending without measure; destruction: jaf în ciuperci! “never mind the loss!”.^[6]
4. (slang) A worthless old thing, a wreck; goods of poor quality.^[10][11]

Word family

• jefui
• jefuitor
• jefuială
• jăcaș

Related words

• jecmăni
• Hungarian zsákmány
• Italian sacco

Usage notes

Tiktin and MDA2 record a separate old jaf (also jah) “strip of land”, from 1568, of unknown origin.^[15][3]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. jaf
3. ^ 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, 1273
4. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. jaf
5. ^ 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. jaf
6. ^ a b c d e f DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 563
7. ^ Academia Republicii Populare Romîne (1958), Dicționarul limbii romîne moderne, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. s.v. jaf
8. ^ Benkő, Loránd (ed.) (1967–1976), A magyar nyelv történeti-etimológiai szótára, 3 vols., Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, p. 3, 1208
9. ^ a b Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 2, 694
10. ^ a b c Dimitrescu, Florica (1997), Dicționar de cuvinte recente, 2nd ed., București: Logos (with the 3rd ed., 2013, in CLRE), p. s.v. jaf
11. ^ a b Volceanov, George (2007), Dicționar de argou al limbii române, București: Niculescu, p. s.v. jaf
12. ^ Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Numbers 14:3
13. ^ Gáldi, László (ed.) (1944), Samuel Klein: Dictionarium valachico-latinum. Primul dicționar al limbii române, Budapest: Királyi Magyar Pázmány Péter Tudományegyetemi Román Intézet (Klein's dictionary of 1801, with Gáldi's etymological study), p. 468
14. ^ 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. 332
15. ^ Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. jaf 2