salată

Forms

salată f (plural salate)^[1]

Etymology

Its sources are disputed.^[2][3] For DEX and Wiktionary it is borrowed from Modern Greek σαλάτα (saláta).^[4][1] For Tiktin and Ciorănescu it is borrowed from Italian salata, Ciorănescu adding that the variants come from French salade and Hungarian saláta.^[5][3] MDA2 and the DLR give all of these together with German Salat, a case of multiple etymology.^[2][6]

The Greek word was itself borrowed from Venetian salata.^[7][8][9] The Italian word is the participle of salare (“to salt”), from Latin sal (“salt”): it first meant the salted dish and was later used for the plants eaten that way.^[10][11] The Hungarian word, recorded from about 1500, is from northern Italian.^[12][13]

Papahagi derives Aromanian salatã from Italian.^[14][15] Capidan derives Megleno-Romanian sălată from Bulgarian салата (salata) and Italian, and BER explains the Bulgarian word as Italian through Greek.^[16][17]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is the Romanian–Latin glossary called Anonymus Caransebesiensis, from the second half of the 17th century, where the word names the lettuce.^[2][6] Tiktin dates it to 1703.^[5]

Semantic evolution

In the 18th century the word mostly named the plant: in 1792 a gardener was wanted “only for salads and greens”, and a text of 1808 distinguishes two kinds, one of them heading like cabbage.^[6] The sense “a dish of raw or cooked vegetables with oil and vinegar” is recorded in the 19th century, alongside the plant.^[6][18] Many plants are named with the word: salata câinelui “nipplewort”, salata iepurelui “purple lettuce”, salata mielului “lamb's lettuce”.^[5][2] In prison slang it names the restricted wing for dangerous inmates.^[19]

Timeline

• c. 1650–1700 – the Anonymus Caransebesiensis glossary, the first record.^[2]
• 1703 – the date Tiktin gives.^[5]
• 1792 – sălătruri “salad greens” in a document published by Iorga.^[6]
• 1801 – saláta “lettuce” in Klein's dictionary.^[20]
• 1870 – salată “mixed salad dressed with oil, vinegar and salt” in Costinescu.^[18]

Meanings

Noun

1. lettuce (Lactuca sativa), a vegetable with large, round, edible leaves, also called lăptucă, and by extension other plants with edible leaves.^[4][2] Salata-iepurelui is purple lettuce (Prenanthes purpurea).^[4][2]
2. A salad: a dish of raw or cooked vegetables with vinegar, lemon juice and oil, served as a starter or side dish.^[4][21] Salată de boeuf is a salad of boiled vegetables and beef with pickles and mayonnaise, and salată de fructe a fruit salad.^[4][21]

Word family

• saladieră
• salatieră

Related words

• lăptucă
• sare
• Aromanian salatã

Usage notes

Beside the plural salate, the popular plural sălăți is common: Creangă wrote of niște sălăți foarte minunate.^[4][6] Regional forms include saladă, șalată, sălată and sălatră.^[2][3]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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, 747
3. ^ 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. salată
4. ^ a b c d e f DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 972
5. ^ 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. salată
6. ^ a b c d e f Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. salată
7. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
8. ^ Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
9. ^ Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
10. ^ Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
11. ^ Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter
12. ^ Benkő, Loránd (ed.) (1967–1976), A magyar nyelv történeti-etimológiai szótára, 3 vols., Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, p. 3, 479
13. ^ Gerstner, Károly (ed.) (2006–), Új magyar etimológiai szótár, Budapest: Nyelvtudományi Kutatóközpont; online at uesz.nytud.hu
14. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 918
15. ^ Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net)
16. ^ Capidan, Theodor (1935), Meglenoromânii III: Dicționar meglenoromân, București: Academia Română, p. 255
17. ^ Georgiev, Vladimir I. et al. (eds.) (1971–), Bălgarski etimologičen rečnik, Sofija: Izdatelstvo na Bălgarskata akademija na naukite, p. 6, 442
18. ^ a b Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci
19. ^ Volceanov, George (2007), Dicționar de argou al limbii române, București: Niculescu
20. ^ 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), p. 435
21. ^ a b Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional