pârghie

Forms

pârghie f (plural pârghii)^[1] MDA2 records the variants pârghi (neuter, plural pârghiuri) and pârghină, and the regional pârg, pârgie and pârgiu.^[2]

Etymology

It is probably inherited from Latin pergula, which meant a projection on the front of a building and, according to Du Cange, also a small beam.^[3][4][2][1] Ciorănescu follows Pascu and Scriban here.^[3] Scriban gives Medieval Latin pergula the senses “pole, trellis”.^[5] Wiktionary sets a syncopated *pergla between them and explains the change of meaning from a stall or a frame for vines to a small beam.^[1] Scriban compares Italian pergola (“vine arbour”).^[5] De Vaan considers it a possible diminutive of a word for a pole, but finds nothing definite.^[6]

The derivation is not certain.^[7][3] DEX calls the word of unknown origin and only compares the Latin word.^[7] Tiktin linked it with prăjină “pole”, a view Ciorănescu considers uncertain.^[8][3] Cihac derived it from a diminutive *perticula of pertica (“pole”).^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to Mardarie's Slavonic–Romanian lexicon of 1649, where it glosses the Slavonic носило “litter, carrying frame”.^[8][10] The early sense is a pole used to carry or lift a load: a record of 1840 speaks of a bed carried on two pârghii.^[4][8]

Semantic evolution

Tiktin describes it as the Wallachian word for a pole or a lifting bar, where Moldavia says drug.^[8] In the 19th century it became the technical term for the lever of mechanics, a rigid bar turning on a fixed point, and also the arm of a balance.^[7][11][5] In anatomy it names the parts of the body that work as levers.^[2]

The figurative sense “a means of driving an action, a lever” followed;^[5][7] Scriban illustrates it with flattery as a lever of demagogic politics.^[5][7]

Timeline

• 1649 – pârghie in Mardarie's Slavonic–Romanian lexicon, the first record.^[8][10]
• c. 1660–1670 – in another Slavonic–Romanian lexicon.^[10]
• 1672–1673 – the plural pârghii “staves” in a Slavonic–Romanian lexicon.^[12]
• 1840 – a bed carried on two pârghii “poles”.^[4][8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A lever: a rigid bar that turns on a fixed point, with a force applied at one end to move a load at the other; a wooden or iron bar used to lift or shift a heavy weight.^[7][2][1]
2. The arm of a balance.^[11][2]
3. (figurative) A force that drives an activity, a point of support: Educația este o pârghie a progresului.^[7]

Related words

• Latin pergula

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. 2, 323
3. ^ a b c d 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. pîrghie
4. ^ a b c Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. pîrghie
5. ^ a b c d e Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 989
6. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
7. ^ 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. 793
8. ^ a b c d e f Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. pârghie
9. ^ Cihac, A. de (1870), Dictionnaire d'étymologie daco-romane I: Éléments latins comparés avec les autres langues romanes, Frankfurt am Main, p. 206
10. ^ a b c 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. pîrghie
11. ^ a b Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 3, 443
12. ^ 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. pîrghii