poponar

Forms

poponar m (plural poponari)^[1] In the Moldovan Cyrillic alphabet the word was written попонар.^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Romanian popou (“bottom, backside”) + -ar, with the suffix -ar.^[2][1]

popou is a familiar word from German Popo (“bottom”).^[3][4][1] The German word is a nursery reduplication that reshaped Podex, current from the 17th century, which was taken from Latin pōdex (“backside”).^[5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Dimitrescu's dictionary of recent words quotes it from the press from 1998 on, in the sense “homosexual man”, but notes that the word itself is much older.^[2] Its base popou is first recorded in the DEX of 1975.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The word belongs to colloquial and slang usage and is used as an insult.^[2][7] A newspaper report of 2002 quoted by Dimitrescu has gay men saying that they are still called poponari.^[2]

Timeline

• 1975 – the base word popou “bottom”, first recorded in the DEX.^[4]
• 1998 – the first press quotation of poponar in Dimitrescu's dictionary of recent words.^[2]
• 2007 – recorded in Volceanov's slang dictionary as vulgar and pejorative.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. (vulgar, derogatory, slang) A homosexual man.^[7][2][1]

Related words

• popou
• homosexual

Usage notes

The word is offensive: Volceanov labels it vulgar and pejorative, Wiktionary vulgar and derogatory.^[7][1] The neutral word is homosexual.^[7]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Dimitrescu, Florica (1997), Dicționar de cuvinte recente, 2nd ed., București: Logos (with the 3rd ed., 2013, in CLRE), p. s.v. poponar
3. ^ DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 850
4. ^ a b c Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 469
5. ^ Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 715
6. ^ Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
7. ^ a b c d e Volceanov, George (2007), Dicționar de argou al limbii române, București: Niculescu, p. s.v. poponar