măcar

Etymology

It is borrowed from Byzantine Greek μακάρι (makári, “may God grant it”), as the DLR and MDA2 give it.^[1][2] Ciorănescu, the DEX and Wiktionary name the same word as Modern Greek μακάρι (makári).^[3][4][5] It comes from Ancient Greek μακάριος (makários, “blessed, happy”).^[3][6][7] MDA2 also compares Bulgarian макар (makar).^[2]

Ciorănescu notes that Corominas showed the once generally accepted source, Persian مگر (magar), to be impossible.^[3] Scriban had still followed it.^[8]

The word is found south of the Danube: Aromanian macar and Megleno-Romanian măcar.^[9][10] It is widespread around the Balkans and the Mediterranean: Albanian makar, Serbo-Croatian makar, Italian magari and Spanish maguer go back to the same Greek word.^[3][6][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to about 1400, in a Slavonic document from the Romanian lands.^[11] MDA2's first record is Coresi's Carte de învățătură of 1581: „să ți-ară fi și tată și mumă macară” “even if they were father and mother to you”.^[2][1]

Semantic evolution

The Greek wish “may it be so” survives in the old sense “if only”, with de: „măcar de te-ai învăța și tu” “if only you would learn too”, in Dosoftei.^[1][11] From the wish came the restrictive sense “at least” and the concessive “even, even if”, with măcar că “although”.^[4][2] With pronouns and relative adverbs it formed indefinites, măcar cine “anyone”.^[4][12] In negative clauses nici măcar means “not even”.^[5][13]

Moldavian speech has macar.^[3][8]

Timeline

• c. 1400 – in a Slavonic document from the Romanian lands, the first record.^[11]
• 1581 – macară “even” in Coresi's Carte de învățătură.^[2][1]
• 1649 – in Mardarie's Slavonic–Romanian lexicon.^[14]
• 1688 – măcară de “if only” in the Bucharest Bible.^[11][1]
• 1801 – macar ca “although” in Klein's dictionary.^[15]

Meanings

Adverb

1. At least: Ia măcar o bucată.^[4][2]
2. even, even if: Măcar de-ar ninge, tot plecăm. Măcar că means “although”.^[4][2]
3. nici măcar: not even.^[5][13]
4. (popular) With pronouns and relative adverbs: any-, whoever, however.^[4]
5. (dated or regional, with de) If only.^[2][1]

Related words

• Byzantine Greek μακάρι (makári)
• Italian magari
• Aromanian macar

Usage notes

Near synonyms are barem and the regional încaltea.^[4][2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. măcar
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 1445
3. ^ a b c d e 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. măcar
4. ^ a b c d e f g DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 626
5. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
6. ^ a b Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
7. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
8. ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 783
9. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 649
10. ^ Capidan, Theodor (1935), Meglenoromânii III: Dicționar meglenoromân, București: Academia Română, p. 178
11. ^ 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. măcar
12. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 374
13. ^ a b Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 3, 31
14. ^ 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. măcar
15. ^ 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. 393