sălciu

Forms

sălciu m or n (feminine singular sălcie, plural sălcii)^[1] An old variant is selciu: „Să mai află încă oarecare lacuri selcii și nitroase” “some brackish and nitrous lakes are found as well” (1829).^[2] The DLR also records an old feminine plural sălcie and the regional forms sălcin, sălceu and salcin.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from Romanian salcie + -iu, according to DEX, NODEX, the DLR and MDA2.^[4][5][2][3] Ciorănescu finds the link with the willow evident, through the bitter taste of the willow leaf, as Pușcariu and Tiktin held, or because the willow grows by stagnant waters.^[6][7] Candrea preferred Vulgar Latin *salicineus, also given by Wiktionary as an alternative.^[6][1] Pascu took it for an earlier ⟨*sărciu⟩, from sare “salt”.^[6] The noun itself is from Latin salix (“willow”).^[6][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is the New Testament of Bălgrad of 1648, for water: „Nice un izvor nu poate da apă sălcie și dulce” “no spring can give brackish and sweet water”.^[2][3][7]

Semantic evolution

The first sense is the brackish, slightly salty or lye-like taste of water with minerals in it.^[7][4] Dosoftei's lives of the saints, printed in 1682–1686, tell of a saint who turned brackish water sweet.^[2] From water it passed to food and drink without a good taste, flat or insipid, and figuratively to dull, uninteresting people and things.^[2][3] Măr sălciu is a summer apple variety, frequent in folk-song refrains such as frunză verde măr sălciu.^[2][8]

Timeline

• 1648 – “brackish”, of water, in the New Testament of Bălgrad.^[3][2]
• c. 1650–1700 – măr sălciu, the apple variety, in the Anonymus Caransebesiensis.^[2]
• 1682–1686 – apă sălcie in Dosoftei's lives of the saints.^[2][7]
• 1829 – the variant selciu.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of water: brackish, slightly salty, with an unpleasant taste.^[4][1]
2. Of food or drink: without a good taste; of taste: insipid, flat.^[4][5]
3. (figurative) dull, uninteresting.^[2][3]

Related words

• salcie
• sălcet
• sălcios

Usage notes

Măr sălciu names a summer apple and its fruit.^[2][3] A separate sălciu¹, a noun of unknown origin and stress, occurs once in a Christmas carol recorded by Pamfile in 1914, probably meaning “throne”.^[9][3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. sălciu²
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 770
4. ^ a b c d DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 979
5. ^ a b Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. sălciu
6. ^ 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. sălcie
7. ^ 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. sălciu
8. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 4, 23
9. ^ Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. sălciu¹