sărbători

Forms

sărbători (third-person singular present sărbătorește, past participle sărbătorit), 4th conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Romanian sărbătoare (“feast day”), as DEX, MDA2, Tiktin and Ciorănescu give it.^{[2][3][4][5][1]} Ciorănescu derives the noun from the participle of serba “to celebrate” with the suffix -oare;^[5] Pascu and Densusianu took it from Vulgar Latin *servatoria.^[5] That verb is servō (“to keep, preserve”).^[5] Aromanian has a parallel verb, sãrbãturescu.^[6][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is of 1703.^[4] MDA2's first record is a newspaper of 1830, which reports that the British ministry celebrated the birthday of its monarch.^[3][7]

Semantic evolution

The verb took the meanings of its noun, a feast day and a celebration: to mark an event with a festivity, and to honour a person with one.^[7][3] The DLR quotes Negruzzi on a guest received, feted and dined everywhere, and Ispirescu on a whole town hurrying to celebrate an event.^[7] Tiktin's quotation from Ispirescu has the form serbători.^[4] MDA2 adds the sense “to dedicate a feast day”.^[3] It is a synonym of serba, celebra and aniversa.^[2][7]

Timeline

• 1703 – first record of the verb.^[4]
• 1830 – in a newspaper, MDA2's first record.^[3][7]

Meanings

Verb

1. To celebrate: to mark an event, or show admiration and joy for a person, with a festivity or a party.^[2][1]
2. To honour a person with a celebration, to fete.^[3][4]
3. To dedicate a feast day to someone.^[3]

Related words

• sărbătoare
• serba
• Aromanian sãrbãturescu

References

1. ^ a b c d e 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. 981
3. ^ a b c d e f g Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 777
4. ^ 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. sărbători
5. ^ 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. serba
6. ^ Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net), p. 898
7. ^ 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. sărbători