sfâșia

Forms

a sfâșia (third-person singular present sfâșie, past participle sfâșiat), first conjugation^[1]

Etymology

Its origin is disputed.^[2][3] The Academy dictionaries and DEX take it as inherited from Vulgar Latin *exfasciō, a verb formed on fasciō (“to wrap in bands”), from fascia (“band, strip”).^{[4][2][5][6][1]} Ciorănescu lists it instead among the Romanian derivatives of fașă “band”, through the noun “strip”, and Tiktin likewise derives it from that noun.^[3][7] Wiktionary prefers a formation from Romanian s- + fâșie and calls the Latin verb less likely.^[1] MDA2 records the noun only from 1776.^[8]

The noun “band” is itself the inherited Latin word; it survives in the other branches as Aromanian fașe, Megleno-Romanian fașă and Istro-Romanian foșa.^[3] The Latin verb meaning “to wrap” continues in Italian fasciare, French faisser and Catalan faixar.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Moxa's chronicle of 1620, of the iconoclasts falling on the images like wolves on a flock: „intrară lupii în turma lui Hristos de sfâșia obrazul lui Hristos și a preacuratei maice” “the wolves came into Christ's flock and tore the face of Christ and of his most pure mother”.^[7][4] Moxa writes it sfărșia.^[7]

Semantic evolution

The oldest and central sense is violent tearing to pieces, above all by wild animals and dogs, which DLR illustrates with lions, tigers and bears from Pleșoianu to Rebreanu.^[5][4] From it come killing by mauling and devouring a carcass, and, with things as the object, tearing cloth or paper into strips.^[4] Figurative uses followed: to torment someone, a sfâșia cuiva inima “to break someone's heart”, and to attack someone with words, to slander.^[2][4] DLRLC quotes the figurative use of sounds that rend the silence and of a boat cutting through the sea.^[10]

Timeline

• 1620 – first record, in Moxa's chronicle, under the form sfărșia.^[7][4]
• 1776 – first record of fâșie “strip”, the noun Tiktin and Ciorănescu derive it from.^[8]
• 19th century – the form sfășia in Costache Negruzzi.^[7]

Meanings

Verb

1. To tear into pieces or strips by hand, without a cutting tool (cloth, paper and the like).^[2][4]
2. Of animals: to maul, to rip someone or something apart with teeth or claws.^[2][4][6]
3. (figurative) To torment, to cause someone great grief;^[2][6] a sfâșia cuiva inima “to break someone's heart”.^[2][6]
4. To attack someone fiercely and spitefully; to slander.^[2][6]

Word family

• sfâșietor

Related words

• fâșie
• fașă

Usage notes

The verb is conjugated without the suffix -ez: eu sfâșii, el sfâșie;^[4][2] MDA2 also records an old present sfâșiez.^[4][2] The adjective sfâșietor “heart-rending” is formed on it.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1012
3. ^ 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. fașă
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 874
5. ^ a b Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. sfîșia
6. ^ a b c d e Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. sfâșia
7. ^ 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. sfâșia
8. ^ a b Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 889
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 3208
10. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 4, 116