labă

Forms

labă f (plural labe)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Hungarian láb (“foot, leg”), as DEX, MDA2, DA and Wiktionary give it.^[2][3][4][1] Ciorănescu cites the Hungarian etymology from Cihac and Gáldi, and also names Old Church Slavonic лапа (lapa) with the Slavic words for “paw”, such as Polish łapa.^[5] Tiktin compares both the Slavic and the Hungarian word, and DA adds Ukrainian лаба (laba).^[6][4][7] Scriban lists the Slavic forms and compares Germanic and Baltic words.^[8]

The Slavic word for “paw” is Proto-Slavic *lapa, with cognates in Lithuanian lopa and Latvian lāpa.^[9][7] The Hungarian noun is recorded from 1231 in place names; ÚESz and Zaicz take it as an inheritance from the Uralic period whose cognates are disputed, while TESz calls it of uncertain origin.^[10][11][12]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is from 1637.^[6] An old glossary quoted by DA gives it for Latin pes “foot”, and MDA2's first record is Cantemir's Istoria ieroglifică.^[4][3]

Semantic evolution

The word names the foot of an animal, especially of a dog, bear, wolf or cat, and the webbed foot of a bird; jokingly or scornfully it is used of a person's foot, leg or hand.^[4][6][2] Idioms come from the animal sense: a pune laba pe cineva “to get hold of someone” and cu botul pe labe “subdued, cowed”.^[3][6]

Compounds name plants and mushrooms: laba-gâștei is a cranesbill and also the wrinkles at the corners of the eyes, and laba-mâței and laba-ursului are coral fungi.^[2][13] Regional and technical uses include a part of the fulling mill in Oltenia and the hook of a boathook in Moldova.^[14][15] In slang it has meant a boot, the palm of the hand, and masturbation.^[16][5]

Timeline

• 1637 – the first record.^[6]
• 1705 – labe and labele in Cantemir's Istoria ieroglifică.^[3]
• 1870 – Costinescu records a pune laba pe cineva “to seize someone”.^[17]

Meanings

Noun

1. paw: the part of the leg below the ankle in four-footed animals and in humans; the foot of a bird; more generally, the leg of some animals: Câinele și-a pus laba pe genunchiul meu.^[2][3]
2. (colloquial, derogatory) A human hand.^[2][1] a pune laba pe cineva “to grab someone”.^[2]
3. (slang, vulgar) masturbation.^[1][16]

Word family

• lăbos
• labagiu
• lăbănat
• lăbar
• lăbuță
• laboș

Usage notes

MDA2 records a regional variant leabă, and Tiktin a Moldavian plural lăbi; the diminutive is lăbuță.^[3][6]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 573
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, 1300
4. ^ a b c d 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. labă
5. ^ a b 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. labă
6. ^ a b c d e f Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. labă
7. ^ a b Georgiev, Vladimir I. et al. (eds.) (1971–), Bălgarski etimologičen rečnik, Sofija: Izdatelstvo na Bălgarskata akademija na naukite, p. 3, 309
8. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 724
9. ^ Derksen, Rick (2008), Etymological Dictionary of the Slavic Inherited Lexicon, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 4, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 268
10. ^ Gerstner, Károly (ed.) (2006–), Új magyar etimológiai szótár, Budapest: Nyelvtudományi Kutatóközpont; online at uesz.nytud.hu
11. ^ Zaicz, Gábor (ed.) (2006), Etimológiai szótár: magyar szavak és toldalékok eredete, Budapest: Tinta Könyvkiadó
12. ^ Benkő, Loránd (ed.) (1967–1976), A magyar nyelv történeti-etimológiai szótára, 3 vols., Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, p. 2, 698
13. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 2, 716
14. ^ Damé, Frédéric (1898), Încercare de terminologie poporană română, București: Stabilimentul Grafic I. V. Socecu, p. 175
15. ^ Stati, Vasile (2003), Dicționar moldovenesc-românesc, Chișinău, p. 159
16. ^ a b Volceanov, George (2007), Dicționar de argou al limbii române, București: Niculescu, p. s.v. labă
17. ^ Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 2, 10