săra

Forms

săra (third-person singular present sărează, past participle sărat) 1st conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *salāre (“to salt”), a change of conjugation of Latin saliō (“to salt”), itself formed on sāl (“salt”).^[1][2][3] MDA2, the DEX and the DLR give the etymon as Latin, and so does Ciorănescu, after Pușcariu and the REW.^[4][5][6][7]

The verb is part of the family of sare “salt”.^[7] South of the Danube it survives as Aromanian ãnsar (“to salt”), with a prefix, and Megleno-Romanian sar.^[7][8] Papahagi derives the Aromanian verb from in-salare.^[8] The Romance cognates are Italian salare, French saler, Occitan salar, and Catalan salar, Spanish salar and Portuguese salar.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is a Gospel translation of 1551–1553, at Matthew 5:13, the verse on the salt that has lost its savour.^[2] MDA2 dates the word from the Latin–Romanian glossary of Caransebeș, of the second half of the 17th century.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The literal sense, to put salt on food to season it or to preserve it, has stayed the main one.^[5][4] A figurative phrase, a-și săra inima or sufletul, “to salt one's heart”, means to feel the satisfaction of revenge or of a rival's defeat;^[2][5][4] Tiktin quotes it from Ispirescu.^[2][5][4]

Regionally the verb also means to give someone a beating, in a săra (pe cineva) să nu se împută “to salt someone so he won't rot”, and to scold or insult someone.^[4] The Aromanian verb has the sense “to beat” as well.^[8]

Timeline

• 1551–1553 – a Gospel translation, Matthew 5:13, the first record.^[2]
• 1648 – să sară “let it be salted” in the New Testament of Bălgrad.^[6]
• 1649 – sărat “salted” in Mardarie's Slavonic–Romanian lexicon.^[9]
• second half of the 17th century – the Caransebeș glossary.^[4]
• 1688 – săra in the Bucharest Bible, among others at Mark 9:49.^[10]

Meanings

Verb

1. To salt: to put or sprinkle salt on food, to season it or to preserve it.^[5][1]
2. In a-și săra inima, to take satisfaction in revenge or in a rival's defeat.^[5][4]
3. (transitive and reflexive) To make or become saltier.^[5]
4. (regional, figurative) To scold, to offend with words.^[4]

Word family

• presăra
• sărare
• sărat
• sărător
• sărătură

Related words

• saramură
• sare
• Aromanian ãnsar

Usage notes

Besides sărez, the present has the older forms sar, sări, sară, still in use regionally.^[5][2]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. sărá
3. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. saliō
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, 775
5. ^ 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. 980
6. ^ a b Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. sără
7. ^ a b c 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. sare
8. ^ a b c Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 111
9. ^ 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. sărat
10. ^ Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Mk 9:49