perlă

Forms

perlă f (plural perle)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French perle, Italian perla and German Perle, the source DEX, MDA2 and the neologism dictionaries give.^[2][3][4] Tiktin names Italian alone, Wiktionary French or Italian, and Scriban takes the French word from Italian.^[5][1][6]

The Western word is of uncertain origin.^[7][1] The DHLF and Nocentini derive it from Vulgar Latin *pernula, a diminutive of Latin perna (“thigh, ham; a sea mussel”), the mussel named after its shape and then its pearl.^[8][9] Kluge starts from an early Romance *perula, probably connected with the same Latin noun.^[10] Nocentini notes that the dialects of Naples and Sicily use Neapolitan perna itself for the pearl, while the step from the diminutive to the Italian form remains hard to explain.^[9] Scriban had already compared the Neapolitan word.^[9][6] The Italian word is recorded from the first half of the 13th century.^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is of 1831, in Heliade-Rădulescu, with the sense “pearl”.^[5] Negulici's vocabulary of 1848 explains it with the older word mărgăritar.^[12]

Semantic evolution

The pearl is the first sense, then an imitation of it worn as jewellery, and figuratively a person or thing of great worth.^[3][2] An ironic sense, a gross and ridiculous blunder in speech or writing, is recorded in the dictionaries and in slang, first of pupils' answers at examinations and then of public figures.^[2][13] In architecture the word names a small round ornament on mouldings, and in printing it once named the smallest typeface, now written perl.^[2][14][3]

Timeline

• 1831 – perlă in Heliade-Rădulescu, the first record.^[5]
• 1848 – Negulici glosses it mărgăritar.^[12]
• 1929 – Șăineanu's dictionary gives the printing sense “smallest typeface”.^[14]
• 1985 – perlă de baie, a small scented bath pearl.^[15]

Meanings

Noun

1. A pearl: the round, silvery, lustrous gem formed inside certain shellfish; an imitation of it worn as jewellery.^[2][3]
2. (figurative) A person of great merit; a thing of great value: Poezia aceasta e o perlă.^[2][6]
3. (figurative, ironic) A gross, ridiculous blunder, especially in speech.^[2][13]
4. A round decorative element on architectural mouldings.^[2][3]

Related words

• perl
• French perle
• Italian perla

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 805
3. ^ 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, 351
4. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. perlă
5. ^ a b c Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. perlă
6. ^ a b c Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 967
7. ^ Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
8. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
10. ^ Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 694
11. ^ Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
12. ^ a b Negulici, I. D. (1848), Vocabular romînesc de toate vorbele streine întroduse pînă acum în limba romînească și de toate cuvintele ce s-ar mai putea introduce încă, București, p. s.v. perlă
13. ^ a b Volceanov, George (2007), Dicționar de argou al limbii române, București: Niculescu, p. s.v. perlă
14. ^ a b Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 476
15. ^ Dimitrescu, Florica (1997), Dicționar de cuvinte recente, 2nd ed., București: Logos (with the 3rd ed., 2013, in CLRE), p. s.v. perlă