mârced

Forms

mârced m or n (feminine singular mârcedă, masculine plural mârcezi, feminine/neuter plural mârcede)^[1] Regional variants are mâlced, mâlcez and mâlcid, mârcid, mărced and mălced;^[2][3][4] Scriban also has merced.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin marcidus (“withered, rotten”), from marceō (“to wither”) and the suffix -idus.^{[5][2][6][7][8][1]} The vowel ⟨â⟩ is unexpected.^[5] Ciorănescu puts it down to expressive treatment and a false analogy with mâlc and mârc;^[5][6][7][9] Pușcariu and the REW think of the influence of rânced (“rancid”), Pușcariu also of mârșav (“dirty”);^[5][6][7][9] Candrea and Densusianu explain it from the verb mârcezi, and the forms with ⟨l⟩ perhaps from vâlced.^[5][6][7][9] Pușcariu lists the Romance cognates Italian marcido and Spanish marchito.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Klein's dictionary of 1801, in the forms mâlced and mâlcez, for a disease of cattle.^[3][2] The Lexicon of Buda (1825) uses it for a disease of mares.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Said of plants the word means withered, of wood damp and rotting, and figuratively of people thin, sickly and drained of strength.^[10][2] Dictionaries of the 19th century add “dazed with sleep” (Polizu, Barcianu), and dialect records give “careless, dirty” and, of food, “beginning to go off”.^[2][3] As a noun it names diseases: scarlet fever, measles or chickenpox in Transylvania, and an illness of mares, cattle or sheep; beekeepers use it for a yellow, sticky and bitter matter between the cells of the comb.^[2][3]

Romanian derived the verb mârcezi “to wither”, mârcav “soft, worn out” with a change of suffix, and mârcaviță “rheumatism” in the Banat and Oltenia.^[5]

Timeline

• 1801 – mâlced, mâlcez, a disease of cattle, in Klein's dictionary.^[3][2]
• 1825 – a disease of mares, in the Lexicon of Buda.^[2]
• 1857 – “weak; dazed with sleep” in Polizu's dictionary.^[2]
• 1893–1895 – mârced “faded, soft, languid” in Damé's dictionary.^[11]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (regional, of plants) Withered, faded; of wood, damp and rotten.^[10][1]
2. (regional, figurative, of people) Thin, sickly, exhausted.^[10][1]

Word family

• mârcezi
• mârcav

Related words

• vâlced

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 k Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. mârced
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, 1473
4. ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 821
5. ^ 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. mârced
6. ^ a b c d e Pușcariu, Sextil (1905), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der rumänischen Sprache I: Lateinisches Element, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 95
7. ^ a b c d Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 5346
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c Candrea, I.-A.; Densusianu, Ov. (1907–1914), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române: elementele latine (A–Putea), București, p. s.v. mârced
10. ^ a b c DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 634
11. ^ Damé, Frédéric (1893–1895), Nouveau dictionnaire roumain-français, 4 vols., Bucarest: Imprimerie de l'État, p. s.v. mârced