socru

Forms

socru m (plural socri, feminine equivalent soacră)^[1] An old vocative was soacre beside socrule.^[2] A regional variant is țocru.^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin socrus (“father-in-law”), the form recorded by Consentius in place of Classical socer.^[4][2][5][6] In Classical Latin that form was the feminine, meaning “mother-in-law”; the masculine is attested in late glosses and North African inscriptions.^[1][7] The Classical noun goes back to Proto-Indo-European *swéḱuros (“father-in-law”), the source also of Ancient Greek ἑκυρός (hekurós).^[7][1]

It survives in all four branches: Aromanian socru, Megleno-Romanian socru and Istro-Romanian socru.^[4][8][9] The Romance forms from the same Late Latin noun include Sardinian sogru, Occitan sogre, Catalan sogre, Spanish suegro and Portuguese sogro.^[4][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is Coresi's Tetraevanghel of 1561, in John 18:13.^[2] The Palia de la Orăștie (1582) has „Moisi iară păștea oile socru-său” “and Moses kept the sheep of his father-in-law”.^[10]

Semantic evolution

The meaning has stayed “the father of one's husband or wife”; in the plural socri are both parents-in-law.^[5][3] The wedding gave it new compounds: socru-mare is the bridegroom's father and socru-mic the bride's.^[5][2] Regionally the plural also names the bride's guests at a wedding, and hora socrilor is the great dance during which the gifts are handed out.^[3]

The feminine soacră has its own Latin source, as in the other Romance languages;^[6][4] Ciorănescu lists it among the derivatives.^[6][4]

Timeline

• 1561 – socru in Coresi's Tetraevanghel, the first record.^[2]
• 1582 – socru-său “his father-in-law” in the Palia de la Orăștie.^[10]
• c. 1660 – socru-micu “the bride's father” in a document.^[10]
• 1688 – socrul in the Bucharest Bible.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. father-in-law: the father of one's husband or wife.^[5][1]
2. socru-mare The father of the bridegroom;^[5][3] socru-mic the father of the bride.^[5][3]
3. (in the plural) The parents-in-law.^[5]

Word family

• socrie
• socriță

Related words

• soacră
• cuscru

Usage notes

MDA2 and Scriban also list a homonym socru, a regional variant of soc “elder (tree)”.^[3][12]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. sócru
3. ^ 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, 924
4. ^ 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. socru
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. 1030
6. ^ a b c d Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 8054
7. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
8. ^ Pascu, Giorge (1925), Dictionnaire étymologique macédoroumain, 2 vols. (I: Les éléments latins et romans; II: Les éléments grecs, turcs, slaves, albanais, germaniques, magyars, néologismes, créations immédiates, obscurs), Iași: Cultura Națională, p. 1, 158
9. ^ Kovačec, August (1998), Istrorumunjsko-hrvatski rječnik (s gramatikom i tekstovima), Pula
10. ^ a b c Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. sócru
11. ^ Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. IEȘIREA 18:1
12. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1, 1218