luptător

Forms

luptător m (plural luptători)^[1] The old form is luptătoriu: an old Bible text quoted by the DLR explains the name Israel as „luptătoriu lu Domnedzeu” “God's fighter”.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from Romanian lupta (“to fight”) + -ător, as Tiktin, the DLR, the DEX and MDA2 derive it.^{[4][2][5][6][7]} The verb is from Latin luctor (“to wrestle”).^[7] Wiktionary instead takes the noun straight from Latin luctātor (“wrestler”), treating the analysis into luptă and -tor as a surface one, and compares Aromanian alumtãtor.^[1][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is the plural luptători in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki, in Psalm 55, where the speaker's enemies fight against him all day.^[9] Tiktin cites another 16th-century psalter.^[4] MDA2's first record, the DEX of 1975, is far too late.^[6]

Semantic evolution

In the old texts the word means a fighter or adversary, and the 17th-century lexicons use it for Slavonic words for a wrestler, an ascetic and an enemy.^[10][2] Klein's dictionary of 1801 gives Latin luctator, pugil and athleta for it, and the DLR quotes it from Varlaam on for those who fight in an arena or a circus.^[3][2] In modern Romanian it also names a wrestler in the sport of lupte, and, figuratively, someone who strives for a cause or does not give up.^[5][6] Dosoftei used the feminine luptătoare for a place of combat.^[4] In Moldova it is also said of a strong, enduring horse.^[11]

Timeline

• c. 1500–1520 – luptători in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki, the first record.^[9]
• 1570 – luptători in Coresi's Psalter.^[12]
• 1660 – luptător glosses Slavonic боритель “fighter” and подвижник “ascetic” in a Slavonic–Romanian lexicon.^[10]
• 1801 – luptatóriu “wrestler, athlete” in Klein's dictionary.^[3]
• 1870 – luptătoru “wrestler, combatant” in Costinescu.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. A fighter, someone who fights; a combatant, a militant.^[5][1]
2. (masculine) A wrestler in freestyle or Greco-Roman wrestling.^[5][14]
3. (figurative) Someone who makes great efforts to achieve something; someone who does not give up.^[6]

Adjective

1. Fighting, combative.^[6][4]

Related words

• lupta
• luptă
• Aromanian alumtãtor

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. luptător
3. ^ a b c 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. 392
4. ^ a b c d Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. luptător
5. ^ a b c d DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 606
6. ^ 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, 1408
7. ^ 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. luptă
8. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 86
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, p. Ps 55:2
10. ^ 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, p. s.v. luptător
11. ^ Stati, Vasile (2003), Dicționar moldovenesc-românesc, Chișinău, p. 169
12. ^ 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, p. Ps 34:1
13. ^ Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 2, 52
14. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. luptător