seamăn

Forms

seamăn m (plural semeni)^[1] The variant semen is used mainly for “fellow man”;^[2][3] Heliade has it for “equal”: „Cine-n aste locuri s-ar măsura cu mine Ș-ar merge mie semen?” “who in these parts would measure himself with me and be my equal?”.^[2][3] A rare feminine has the plural semene.^[4][5]

Etymology

It is a back-formation from Romanian semăna (“to resemble”), according to DEX, the DLR and Ciorănescu.^[3][2][6] The REW, Scriban and Șăineanu derive it instead from Latin similis (“like”), and Tiktin allows either;^{[6][5][7][8][4]} MDA2 gives the back-formation and compares the Latin adjective.^{[6][5][7][8][4]} The verb continues similō, formed on the adjective.^[6][3]

Ciorănescu and Tiktin explain the variant semen as a singular rebuilt from the plural.^[6][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to about 1830, in I. Văcărescu.^[8] MDA2 cites the same author's collected poems of 1848, with the sense “one who is just like another”.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The noun means an equal or match, and is most used in phrases: fără (de) seamăn “matchless”, hence “extraordinary”, and a nu avea seamăn “to have no equal”.^[4][3] A folk poem in Alecsandri's collection says of Stephen the Great: „Seamăn pe lume nu are / Decât numai mândrul soare” “he has no equal in the world but the proud sun”, and Bălcescu calls the campaign of 1595 one “without equal perhaps in the history of the world”.^[8][9]

In the plural, semenii are one's fellow men, a person's neighbours in the biblical sense: Scriban illustrates it with the command to love one's neighbour as oneself.^[5][3] Tiktin quotes Marian using the plural for the cuckoo's fellow birds.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 1830 – first record, in I. Văcărescu.^[8]
• 1848 – in the collected poems of I. Văcărescu.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. One who is just like another; an equal, a match: Bunica făcea o plăcintă fără seamăn.^[4][3][1]
2. (usually plural, also in the form semen) A fellow human being; one's neighbour: Să-i ajutăm pe semenii noștri.^[3][4]

Related words

• semăna
• asemăna
• asemenea

Usage notes

Seamăn is also the first person singular present of both verbs semăna, “to sow” and “to resemble”.^[6] The fixed phrases are fără (de) seamăn “incomparable” and a nu (mai) avea seamăn (pe lume) “to be unique”.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. seamăn
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 997
4. ^ 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, 837
5. ^ a b c d Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1181
6. ^ a b c d e f 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. semăna
7. ^ a b Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 580
8. ^ a b c d e f g Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. seamăn
9. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 4, 83