soi

Forms

soi n (plural soiuri)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ottoman Turkish صوی (soy, “lineage, family, breed”), a loan of the Ottoman period.^{[2][3][4][5][1]} MDA2 names Modern Greek σόι (sói) as a second source beside the Turkish word.^[3] The Greek word is itself from Turkish.^[6] The Ottoman form goes back to Proto-Turkic *soy.^[1]

The word survives south of the Danube: Aromanian soi or soie and Megleno-Romanian soi.^[2][7][8] Șăineanu and Scriban list it among the Turkish words shared by the Balkan languages, with the same word in Greek, Albanian, Bulgarian and Serbian.^[5][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin and MDA2 give the first record from a text of 1785 cited under the siglum CARTE TREB., with the sense “kind, breed”.^[10][3]

Semantic evolution

In Ottoman Turkish the word meant lineage, family and breed; Șăineanu notes that in Romanian it was said above all of horses, as in cal de soi bun moldovenesc “a horse of good Moldavian breed”.^[5] Scriban records the phrases a fi soi and a fi de soi “to be of good breed” and soi rău “a bad lot”, said of people.^[9] From the breed of animals the word spread to plants, products and kinds of people and things: Tiktin quotes it of strawberries in Alecsandri, of poets in Eminescu and of people in Creangă.^[10][11]

MDA2 lists the general senses “manner, way” and “type”, the phrase tot soiul de “all kinds of” and un soi de “a sort of”, something only like the thing named.^[3] In agriculture it names a cultivated variety.^[3][4] A verb soi “to improve a breed by crossing” was formed on the noun from about 1800.^[10][3][2]

Timeline

• 1785 – the first record, cited by Tiktin and MDA2.^[10][3]
• 1800 – the verb soi “to improve a breed”, the first record Tiktin gives for it.^[10]
• 1834 – the same verb in Manolache Drăghici's book on rural economy.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A variety or breed: a group of plants or animals of one species with inherited features in common; a plant or animal of such a group.^[4] De soi: of high quality, choice.^[4][12]
2. (colloquial) A kind, sort or category of people or things: Ce soi de om e? “What kind of man is he?”.^[4][3]
3. (in tot soiul de) All kinds of, every sort of;^[13] un soi de: a sort of, something like.^[3]

Usage notes

Two words of other origin are spelled the same.^[4] Soi “layer of greasy dirt” (plural soaie, popular) is of unknown origin;^[13] DEX compares zoaie “dirty washing water”, and Tiktin finds the link with it unclear.^[4][10] Tiktin dates it to 1839 and MDA2 to 1852, in Anton Pann.^[10][3] The rare verb soi “to soil” is formed on it, recorded in Iordache Golescu's dictionary of about 1832, and so is soios “greasy, dirty”.^[4][3] MDA2 also lists a regional soi “large spoon for urdă cheese” of unknown origin.^[3][13]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c 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. soi
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 926
4. ^ 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. 1031
5. ^ a b c Șăineanu, Lazăr (1900), Influența orientală asupra limbei și culturei române, vol. I: Introducerea; vol. II.1: Vorbele populare; vol. II.2: Vorbele istorice, literare, Indice, București: Socec, p. II/1, 325
6. ^ Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
7. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 962
8. ^ Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net), p. 956
9. ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1219
10. ^ 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. soi
11. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 4, 167
12. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. soi
13. ^ a b c Bulgăr, Gheorghe; Constantinescu-Dobridor, Gheorghe (2002), Dicționar de arhaisme și regionalisme, 2 vols., București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. soi