rochie

Forms

rochie f (plural rochii)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Bulgarian рокля (roklja), also borrowed from Serbo-Croatian roklja, in the view of DEX, the DLR and MDA2.^[2][3][4] DER and Wiktionary name only the Serbo-Croatian word, following Cihac.^[5][1] Șăineanu also gives the Serbian word, with the sense “jacket”.^[6] The Slavic word is German in origin: DER derives it from German Rock (“coat; skirt”), the source of Romanian roc “frock coat” too, and MDA2 compares the diminutive Rökel.^[5][4] Tiktin sets the Romanian word straight beside the German noun and compares the Serbian one, “jacket, little coat”.^[7]

The Bulgarian etymological dictionary traces the Bulgarian word probably through Serbo-Croatian to Hungarian rokolya (“skirt”), from a Bavarian-Austrian diminutive of the German noun.^[8] The Hungarian word is recorded from 1348 and is itself a German loan, from a dialect form going back to Middle High German roc (“skirt”).^[9][10] The same article reports the opposite view of N. Namerov, who brings the Bulgarian word from German through Romanian, and sets it against the DLR, which makes the Romanian word the borrowing.^[8] The German noun itself goes back to West Germanic and is of unclear further origin.^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is a document of 1632.^[7] The Anonymus Caransebesiensis glossary of the later 17th century lists it, and an inventory of 1790 lists a purple giubea trimmed with mink and „o rochie iarăși asemene” “a dress likewise”.^[4][3]

Semantic evolution

The word names a woman's garment in which the bodice and the skirt are one piece.^[2] Older records show a looser use: an inventory of about 1816 counts dresses of several fabrics beside fuste “skirts”, and an early text says that a rochie is called fustă.^[3] MDA2 keeps “skirt” as an old sense and the lower part of a garment as a regional one, and a dialect glossary records roche meaning “skirt”.^[4] Klein's dictionary of 1801 renders it with Latin toga feminea, a woman's gown.^[12]

Several plant names are built on the word: rochia-rândunicii “the swallow's dress” for field bindweed and bird's-foot trefoil, rochia-cerului for floating sweet-grass.^[4] Bulgarian names field bindweed in the same way, роклица.^[8] In Moldova the word is also recorded for the broad strap of a harness that passes round a horse's hindquarters.^[13] Twentieth-century fashion added compounds such as rochie-furou, after French robe fourreau.^[14]

Timeline

• 1632 – the first record, in a document.^[7]
• c. 1650–1700 – in the Anonymus Caransebesiensis Romanian–Latin glossary.^[4]
• 1790 – „o rochie” in a list of clothes.^[3]
• 1801 – Klein's dictionary glosses it with Latin words for a woman's gown.^[12]
• 1825 – the Lexicon of Buda, with the diminutive rochiuță.^[15]
• 1972 – rochie-furou in the press.^[14]

Meanings

Noun

1. A dress: a woman's garment in which the bodice and the skirt, of the same material, form a single piece: rochie de mireasă “wedding dress”.^[2][7]
2. (dated) A skirt.^[4]
3. (regional) The lower part, the skirts of a garment.^[4]

Word family

• rochiță

Related words

• roc
• Bulgarian рокля (roklja)
• German Rock

Usage notes

The regional variant roche (plural rochi) appears in Pann, Macedonski and Caragiale.^[3][16] MDA2 also records roichie.^[4] The usual diminutive is rochiță.^[7]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 959
3. ^ 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. rochie
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 719
5. ^ a b 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. rochie
6. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc
7. ^ a b c d e Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. rochie
8. ^ a b c Georgiev, Vladimir I. et al. (eds.) (1971–), Bălgarski etimologičen rečnik, Sofija: Izdatelstvo na Bălgarskata akademija na naukite, p. 6, 313
9. ^ Benkő, Loránd (ed.) (1967–1976), A magyar nyelv történeti-etimológiai szótára, 3 vols., Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, p. 3, 433
10. ^ Zaicz, Gábor (ed.) (2006), Etimológiai szótár: magyar szavak és toldalékok eredete, Budapest: Tinta Könyvkiadó
11. ^ Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter
12. ^ a b Gáldi, László (ed.) (1944), Samuel Klein: Dictionarium valachico-latinum. Primul dicționar al limbii române, Budapest: Királyi Magyar Pázmány Péter Tudományegyetemi Román Intézet (Klein's dictionary of 1801, with Gáldi's etymological study)
13. ^ Stati, Vasile (2003), Dicționar moldovenesc-românesc, Chișinău
14. ^ a b Dimitrescu, Florica (1997), Dicționar de cuvinte recente, 2nd ed., București: Logos (with the 3rd ed., 2013, in CLRE)
15. ^ 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. 591
16. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 3, 766