murdar

Forms

murdar m or n (feminine singular murdară, masculine plural murdari, feminine/neuter plural murdare)^[1] Regional forms include murdal, mârdar and mârdal.^[2] The dialect atlas has „Haine murdale” “dirty clothes”.^[3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ottoman Turkish مردار (murdar, “impure, dirty”).^{[4][2][5][6][1]} The Ottoman word is from Persian مردار (murdār, “carrion, corpse”).^[7][8][1] Scriban and Șăineanu relate it to Persian مرد (murd, “dead”).^[9][10] Turkish also has a dissimilated form mundar.^[7]

The word spread through the Balkans: Aromanian murdar, Albanian murdar, Serbo-Croatian murdar, Bulgarian мурдар (murdar) and Modern Greek μουρντάρης (murdáris).^{[4][10][8][11][12]}

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is a manuscript translation of a Kotzebue play of 1816, where the old woman's children were dirty: „Și copiii babii era... murdari”.^[2][6][3]

Semantic evolution

From “dirty, soiled” the word came to mean “murky” of water and light, and figuratively “vile, base” of people and acts and “obscene” of words.^[3][5] Șăineanu also recorded the sense “stingy”, and Scriban the phrase avar murdar “filthy miser”.^[10][9] Slang uses it for an illegal deal.^[13] The proverb rufele murdare se spală în familie “dirty linen is washed at home” is recorded by Zanne.^[6][3]

The verb murdărisi was taken from Modern Greek μουρνταρεύω (murdarévo), through its aorist; murdări and murdărie were formed in Romanian.^[4][10]

Timeline

• 1816 – murdari “dirty” in a manuscript translation of Kotzebue.^[2][6]
• 1900 – Șăineanu calls it a popular word found everywhere, with no equivalent.^[10]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Dirty, soiled, stained, covered with dust or grime; of people, not keeping clean.^[5][2][1]
2. Of water or light: murky, not clear; tulbure.^[5]
3. (figurative) Despicable, vile, base: afaceri murdare “dirty business”.^[5][2]
4. (figurative) Of words: obscene, indecent.^[5][2]

Word family

• murdări
• murdărie
• murdărisi

Related words

• Aromanian murdar

Usage notes

Murdar is also used as an adverb, “dirtily”.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 78
3. ^ a b c d Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. murdar
4. ^ 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. murdar
5. ^ a b c d e f DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 683
6. ^ 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. murdar
7. ^ a b Tietze, Andreas (2002–2018), Tarihi ve Etimolojik Türkiye Türkçesi Lugatı, Istanbul: Simurg; Vienna: Austrian Academy of Sciences, p. 260
8. ^ a b Georgiev, Vladimir I. et al. (eds.) (1971–), Bălgarski etimologičen rečnik, Sofija: Izdatelstvo na Bălgarskata akademija na naukite, p. 4, 333
9. ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 842
10. ^ a b c d e Șăineanu, Lazăr (1900), Influența orientală asupra limbei și culturei române, vol. I: Introducerea; vol. II.1: Vorbele populare; vol. II.2: Vorbele istorice, literare, Indice, București: Socec, p. II.1, 265
11. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 715
12. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr, p. s.v. μουρντάρης
13. ^ Volceanov, George (2007), Dicționar de argou al limbii române, București: Niculescu, p. s.v. murdar