slab

Forms

slab m or n (feminine singular slabă, masculine plural slabi, feminine/neuter plural slabe)^[1] Regional variants are sclab, ștlab and zlab.^[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Old Church Slavonic слабъ (slabŭ, “weak”).^[3][4][5][1] Ciorănescu follows Miklosich and Cihac and compares Bulgarian слаб (slab), Serbo-Croatian slȁb and Czech slabý.^[3][6] The Old Church Slavonic word, glossing Greek “weak, feeble, unmanly”, continues Proto-Slavic *slàbъ (“weak”), whose reflexes include Russian слабый (slábyj) and Polish słaby.^[7][8][1]

It survives south of the Danube: Aromanian slab and Megleno-Romanian slab.^[3][9][10] The Aromanian word also means “bad, wicked”, and Tiktin records the sense “bad” in Istro-Romanian and in the Banat, where he takes it from Croatian and Serbian.^[9][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Psaltirea Scheiană, in Psalm 6.^[2][4] Coresi's psalter of 1577 has it in the same psalm.^[11] Tiktin's first sense is “weak”.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Two main senses run side by side: “weak, feeble” and “thin, lean”.^[4][3][12] Weakness of the body extended to weak organs and faculties (memorie slabă “poor memory”), to weakness of will (slab de înger “faint-hearted”), to low intensity or strength, to work of little value, and to poor soil.^[12] Mardarie's Slavonic lexicon of 1649 gives it for words meaning “faint-hearted” and “soft”.^[13] An old phrase a lăsa în slab meant to go easy on someone or let a matter slide.^[4]

Regionally it means “ugly, sad” in Maramureș, where pământ slab is poor arable land, and “ill” in Bessarabia.^[14][15] In the Banat lucru slab is an evil spirit kept away from mother and child.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 1563 – the verb slăbi “to weaken” in the Codicele Voronețean.^[16]
• c. 1573-1578 – slab in the Psaltirea Scheiană, the first record of the adjective.^[2][4]
• 1577 – in Coresi's psalter.^[11]
• 1649 – in Mardarie's Slavonic–Romanian lexicon.^[13]
• 1702 – cel mai slab “the weakest” in a liturgical text, set against cel mai tare “the strongest”.^[4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. thin, lean: without a layer of fat under the skin; of meat, lean; of food, low in fat.^[12][2]
2. weak, feeble; of organs or faculties, not working well: vedere slabă “poor sight”.^[12][3]
3. (figurative) Weak-willed, easily swayed: slab de fire, slab de înger.^[12]
4. Lacking strength or intensity; flimsy; of a solution, dilute: slabă nădejde! “not much hope!”^[12]
5. (figurative) Poor, mediocre; unconvincing; of a person, poorly prepared in a field.^[12]
6. (rare) Of land, barren.^[12]

Word family

• slăbi
• slăbiciune
• slăbuț
• slăbitor
• slăbătură

Related words

• slăbănog
• Old Church Slavonic слабъ (slabŭ)

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 905
3. ^ a b c d e 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. slab
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. slab
5. ^ Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. slab
6. ^ Cihac, A. de (1879), Dictionnaire d'étymologie daco-romane II: Éléments slaves, magyars, turcs, grecs-moderne et albanais, Frankfurt am Main, p. 346
7. ^ Kurz, Josef; Hauptová, Zoe (eds.) (1958–1997), Slovník jazyka staroslověnského / Lexicon linguae palaeoslovenicae, 4 vols. + supplements, Praha: Academia; digital ed. gorazd.org
8. ^ Derksen, Rick (2008), Etymological Dictionary of the Slavic Inherited Lexicon, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 4, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 452
9. ^ a b Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 960
10. ^ Capidan, Theodor (1935), Meglenoromânii III: Dicționar meglenoromân, București: Academia Română, p. 267
11. ^ a b Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Ungureanu, Mădălina; Moruz, Alexandru et al., roPsalt: Re-evaluating the Sixteenth Century Romanian Psalters (aligned corpus), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. Ps 6:2
12. ^ a b c d e f g h DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1025
13. ^ a b Ungureanu, Mădălina; Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Moruz, Alexandru (eds.), eRomLex: The First Romanian Bilingual Dictionaries (17th century), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. s.v. slab
14. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1925), Graiul și folklorul Maramureșului, București: Cultura Națională, p. 231
15. ^ Stati, Vasile (2003), Dicționar moldovenesc-românesc, Chișinău, p. 278
16. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. s.v. slăbi