scorbură

Forms

scorbură f (plural scorburi)^[1]

Etymology

Ciorănescu, Tiktin, the REW and Wiktionary take it as inherited from Latin scrobis (“ditch, pit”), through a form *scorbis with the /r/ moved.^[2][3][4][1] The ending is explained by a Latin diminutive *scorbula (Candrea, Pascu, Bogrea) or, as Ciorănescu prefers after Tiktin, by a lost Romanian singular whose plural was taken for a new singular.^[2][3] NODEX gives the diminutive.^[5] DEX gives the word as of unknown origin, and the DLR and MDA2 only compare Albanian korbull.^[6][7][8]

The REW lists Aromanian scrob “den, cave” with the Latin word, but doubts it, since it would need the /r/ to move back again.^[4][9] Ciorănescu compares Italian scroba (“pit”).^[2] He finds doubtful Giuglea's derivation from Latin corbis through a diminutive, and Hubschmid's pre-Roman root for “hollow”.^[2] Scriban linked it to Bulgarian коруба (koruba).^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is in Prodan's edition of urbaria, dated 1637.^[3] The plural scorburi occurs in the Bucharest Bible of 1688, at Jeremiah 2:34.^[11]

Semantic evolution

The main sense is a hollow in the trunk of a rotten tree, extended to a hollow trunk itself.^[6][8] The Lexicon de la Buda of 1825 has both, with Latin, Hungarian and German equivalents.^[12] The word spread to any hole in a bank, a rock or the ground, and in places to a cave.^[6][8] Regional senses include a hole in the ice, a decayed tooth, the skull and an new thin cow.^[8][7] Costinescu in 1870 records the phrase a suna a scorbură “to sound hollow”.^[13]

Timeline

• 1637 – the first record, in an urbarium in Prodan's edition.^[3]
• 1688 – scorburi in the Bucharest Bible.^[11]
• 1825 – in the Lexicon de la Buda, “hollow in a tree trunk; hollow trunk”.^[12][8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A large hollow in the trunk of a tree that has rotted inside; a hollow, rotten trunk.^[6][14]
2. A small hole in a bank or rock, a cave; any cavity or hole.^[6][8]

Usage notes

Variants include scorboră, the old stiorbură and the regional scobură, scolbură and școrbură.^[8][7] The plural is scorburi, regionally scorbure.^[8]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. scorbură
3. ^ 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. scorbură
4. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 7747
5. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. scorbură
6. ^ a b c d e DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 992
7. ^ a b c Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. scorbură
8. ^ 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, 818
9. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne
10. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1, 1174
11. ^ a b Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Jer 2:34
12. ^ a b 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. 621
13. ^ Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 2, 486
14. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 4, 62