mlaștină

Forms

mlaștină f (plural mlaștini)^[1] The Lexicon de la Buda (1825) gives mlaștină or mloștină, glossed Latin palus (“swamp”).^[2] MDA2 records the regional variants mlăștină and mloștină beside the standard form.^[3]

Etymology

DEX, MDA2 and Wiktionary take it as borrowed from Old Church Slavonic млащина (mlaština), a Slavonic form that DEX gives with an asterisk as unattested.^[4][3][1] Wiktionary traces it to Proto-Slavic *molka and makes it a doublet of mlacă.^[1] Tiktin also gives a reconstructed Slavic etymon.^[5] Scriban took the Slavonic form to be deduced from the Slavic word for a puddle, which Romanian also borrowed.^[6]

Ciorănescu disagrees: he treats it as a Romanian derivative of that word, which is from Serbo-Croatian mlaka (with a Ukrainian counterpart), probably reshaped from its plural or from a diminutive.^[7] He lists the other views: Pușcariu, after Philippide, compared Albanian mlašk, and Conev derived it from the Slavonic form, which Ciorănescu found unclear.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to about 1710, in Nicolae Costin's chronicle: „Decie vrând să scape, căzut-au într-o mlaștină cu calul și acolo au pierit” “then, trying to escape, he fell into a swamp with his horse and perished there”.^[5][8] MDA2 cites the same chronicle as its first record.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The word has kept the sense of a hollow of wet ground where water gathers and stands without an outlet.^[8][4] Klein's dictionary of 1801 and the Lexicon de la Buda of 1825 record it, the latter with the Hungarian and German equivalents for a marshy place.^[8][2] Tiktin notes iarba mlaștinei “swamp grass” as a folk name for the rush.^[5] NODEX adds a figurative sense, a morally corrupt social milieu.^[9] Ciorănescu lists the derivatives mlăștinos “marshy” and mlaștiniță, the name of a marsh orchid.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 1710 – mlaștină “swamp” in Nicolae Costin's chronicle, the first record.^[5][8]
• 1801 – recorded in Klein's dictionary.^[8]
• 1825 – mlaștină or mloștină in the Lexicon de la Buda.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A swamp or marsh: a natural hollow without drainage where rain, flood or ground water collects and stagnates.^[4][3][1]
2. (figurative) A corrupt or degraded social milieu.^[9]

Word family

• mlăștinos

Related words

• mlacă

Usage notes

The plural is mlaștini;^[3] MDA2 also records a rare mlaștine and a regional mlăștini.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c 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. 397
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. 2, 32
4. ^ a b c DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 663
5. ^ 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. mláștină
6. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 822
7. ^ a b c 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. mlacă
8. ^ a b c d e Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. mlaștină
9. ^ a b Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. mlaștină