sfert

Forms

sfert n (plural sferturi)^[1] MDA2 records the variants șfert, cifert, civert, ciuvert, știfert and șvert.^[2] A document of 1738 has civert: „un civert de vacă” “a quarter of a cow”.^[3] Șfert survives as a regional, mainly Moldavian, form.^[4][5]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Old Church Slavonic четврътъ (četvrŭtŭ, “fourth”), from the Old Church Slavonic of the church and chancery.^{[4][3][2][5][1]} In Old Church Slavonic the word is the ordinal number “fourth”.^[6][7] It continues Proto-Slavic *četvьrtъ (“fourth”), from Proto-Indo-European *kʷetwr̥tós, and is cognate with Lithuanian ketvirtas, Latin quārtus and Ancient Greek τέταρτος (tétartos).^[1][7][8] Tiktin compares it with Old Church Slavonic, Ciorănescu follows Cihac.^[9][4]

The modern form came through older șfert.^[1] Scriban derives the oldest form cifert from Ukrainian чверть (čvertʹ), which then became ⟨șfert⟩ and ⟨sfert⟩.^[10] Ciorănescu compares ciosvârtă “a quarter of a carcass”.^[4] Wiktionary compares Serbo-Croatian četvrt.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is of 1693.^[9] A document of 1738 counts un civert de vacă “a quarter of a cow” among the food of three funeral meals.^[3] MDA2 cites Ion Neculce's chronicle of about 1743.^[2]

Semantic evolution

From the start the word meant “a quarter, a fourth part” of a whole or of a unit of measure, above all in un sfert de ceas “a quarter of an hour”.^[9][3] In Wallachia and Moldavia it also named a tax: Ciorănescu says that it was set in 1739 to be paid in four instalments, but that the number rose to five in 1741 and to six in 1774.^[4] Scriban and Șăineanu write that it ended up being collected up to twelve times a year.^[10][11] A document of 1823 speaks of the first sferturi “instalments” of a sum.^[3]

The word also entered set phrases: sfertul lunii “the quarter moon”, trei sferturi for a head seen half in profile or for a coat of middle length, and in sport sferturi de finală “quarter-finals”.^[2][5][12] Scriban and Șăineanu also record the sense “a large strip of field”.^[10][11] In drug slang it is a street dose of heroin, about a quarter of a gram.^[13]

Timeline

• 1693 – first record, according to Tiktin.^[9]
• 1738 – civert “a quarter” of a cow, in a document.^[3]
• 1739 – the tax called sfert is set, payable in four instalments.^[4]
• c. 1743 – in Ion Neculce's chronicle of Moldavia.^[2]
• 1823 – sferturi “instalments” of a payment, in a document.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A quarter, a fourth part of a whole: un sfert de oră “a quarter of an hour”;^[5][1] pe sfert “by about a quarter”, pe trei sferturi “three-quarters”.^[5][1]
2. trei sferturi: the position of the head halfway between full face and profile.^[5]
3. (sport, plural) sferturi de finală: the quarter-finals.^[2]
4. (historical) A tax paid in instalments, at first four times a year.^[5][4]

Word family

• sfârteca
• sfertișor

Related words

• ciosvârtă
• Old Church Slavonic четврътъ (četvrŭtŭ)

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 876
3. ^ a b c d e f g Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. sfert
4. ^ a b c d e f g 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. sfert
5. ^ a b c d e f g DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1012
6. ^ Kurz, Josef; Hauptová, Zoe (eds.) (1958–1997), Slovník jazyka staroslověnského / Lexicon linguae palaeoslovenicae, 4 vols. + supplements, Praha: Academia; digital ed. gorazd.org
7. ^ a b Derksen, Rick (2008), Etymological Dictionary of the Slavic Inherited Lexicon, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 4, Leiden / Boston: Brill
8. ^ Vasmer, Max (1964–1973), Ètimologičeskij slovar' russkogo jazyka, transl. and suppl. by O. N. Trubačev, 4 vols., Moskva: Progress
9. ^ 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. sfert
10. ^ a b c Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1, 1194
11. ^ a b Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 1, 588
12. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne
13. ^ Volceanov, George (2007), Dicționar de argou al limbii române, București: Niculescu