scămos

Forms

scămos m or n (feminine singular scămoasă, masculine plural scămoși, feminine/neuter plural scămoase)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Romanian scamă + -os, as MDA2, the DEX, the DLR and Tiktin explain it.^[2][3][4][5] Pușcariu and the REW take it instead straight from Latin squāmōsus (“scaly”), which Ciorănescu allows as possible, and Wiktionary and Gabinschi give both explanations.^[6][7][1][8] Its Romance parallels are Italian squamoso and Spanish escamoso.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is Cantemir's Istoria ieroglifică of 1705, in a figurative sense: someone so scămos la minte “frayed of mind” and narrow in speech.^[5][4] MDA2 dates it only from the Lexicon of Buda of 1825.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The common sense is “covered with lint, fluffy”, of fabrics and fibres, and “fraying easily”, as of worn cloth.^[2][3] By analogy it is used of fluffy snow and clouds.^[4] Rarely it means downy, of plants, and scaly, of skin, the sense closest to Latin squāmōsus.^[2][4] In thieves' slang it means “inexperienced, clumsy”.^[9]

Timeline

• 1705 – scămos la minte in Cantemir's Istoria ieroglifică, the first record.^[5]
• 1825 – the Lexicon of Buda, glossed Latin fibratus.^[2][10]
• 1886 – Barcianu glosses it German faserig.^[11]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Covered with lint; fluffy, fibrous; fraying easily.^[3][2][1]
2. (rare) Of plants, downy; of skin, scaly.^[2]
3. (slang) Inexperienced, clumsy.^[9]

Word family

• scămoșa

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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, 794
3. ^ a b c DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 986
4. ^ a b c d Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. scămos
5. ^ a b c Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. scămós
6. ^ 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. scamă
7. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 8202
8. ^ Gabinschi, Marcu (2001), Dicționar de dublete etimologice ale limbii române, 2nd ed., Chișinău: Litera, p. 157
9. ^ a b Volceanov, George (2007), Dicționar de argou al limbii române, București: Niculescu, p. s.v. scămos
10. ^ 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. 665
11. ^ Barcianu, Sava Popovici (1886), Dicționar român-germân și germân-român, revised by D. P. Barcianu, part I: român-germân, Sibiu: Institut tipografic, p. 566