solz

Forms

solz m (plural solzi)^[1] Regional variants are solț and souz; besides the plural solzi MDA2 records a rare neuter plural solzuri.^[2] The Bible of 1688 has the plural: „Toate câte sunt la ele aripi și solzi în ape” “all that have fins and scales in the waters”.^[3][4]

Etymology

The origin is disputed.^[5][3][1] DEX and MDA2 derive it this way: it is inherited from Late Latin soldus (“gold coin”), the contracted form of solidus, and a Romanian ⟨*soldu⟩ had the plural ⟨*soldzi⟩, from which a new singular was made.^[6][2][1] Hasdeu, Philippide and Pușcariu had already proposed the Latin word, and Ivănescu gives it in the sense “gold coin”.^[5][3] Ungureanu traces the meaning from “gold coin” to “any coin” to “any small round thing” and so to “scale”, but this is his own view.^[7]

Cihac and Candrea compared a Slavonic word for “mucus”, which is said to mean “scale” in a single passage.^[5][3] Tiktin finds the Slavic source unlikely and the Latin adjective “solid” unsatisfying in meaning, and leaves the word obscure.^[3] Ciorănescu rejects both: from the Slavic word the plural would have been ⟨*solji⟩, as with mânz, and he takes the plural in /-zi/ as a sign of an expressive formation, comparing bulz; he calls the origin unknown.^[5] Șăineanu and Scriban had followed the Slavic comparison.^[8][9] Wiktionary considers the Latin etymology probable and the Slavic one less likely.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to 1560, from the Romanian words in Slavonic-language documents.^[3] In Romanian texts the word appears in the translation of the Teachings of Neagoe Basarab (about 1650), the first record MDA2 gives, and in Mardarie's Slavonic–Romanian lexicon of 1649, where solzi glosses the Slavonic for “scales”.^[2][10]

Semantic evolution

The core sense is the scale of a fish, extended to the horny plates of reptiles and of birds' legs.^[2][6] By likeness it names the metal plates of scale armour and of ornaments, the small leaves that protect buds and bulbs, and the outer layer of a wool fibre.^[6][5] Figuratively and colloquially it is crusted dirt on the skin; Șăineanu and Scriban record a Moldavian plural for a scalp eczema of infants.^[6][8][9] A fish scale held against the teeth served as a folk instrument, the solz de pește.^[6][11] Ciorănescu also records the scales on butterfly wings and, in slang, “money”.^[5]

Timeline

• 1560 – first record, in the Slavonic-Romanian documents.^[3]
• 1649 – solzi in Mardarie's Slavonic–Romanian lexicon.^[10]
• c. 1650 – solzi in the Romanian translation of the Teachings of Neagoe Basarab.^[2]
• 1688 – solzi “scales” in the Bucharest Bible.^[4][3]
• 1801 – Klein's dictionary glosses sólzu with Latin squama.^[12]
• 1825 – solzu with the adjective phrase cu solzi “scaly” in the Lexicon de la Buda.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. A scale: one of the small hard, shiny plates that overlap to cover the body of most fishes and reptiles and the legs of birds.^[6][2][1]
2. One of the small metal plates of which armour or ornaments are made.^[6][2]
3. (botany) One of the small leaves that cover and protect buds, bulbs and other plant organs.^[6][14]
4. The outer layer seen in a cross-section of a wool fibre.^[6]
5. (figurative, popular) Dirt crusted on the skin in small flakes.^[6][14]
6. solz de pește: a folk musical instrument, a fish scale held between the lower lip and the teeth and made to vibrate with the breath.^[6]

Word family

• solzi
• solzos

Related words

• solid
• Latin solidus

Usage notes

The idiom a-i cădea cuiva solzii de pe ochi means “to see the truth all at once”; the adverbial phrase în solzi means “overlapping like scales”.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 931
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. solz
4. ^ a b Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Lev 11:9
5. ^ a b c d e f 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. solz
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1033
7. ^ Ungureanu, Dan (2024), Istoria limbii române, Chișinău: Cartier, p. 359
8. ^ a b Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 1, 603
9. ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1221
10. ^ 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. solzi
11. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 4, 171
12. ^ Gáldi, László (ed.) (1944), Samuel Klein: Dictionarium valachico-latinum. Primul dicționar al limbii române, Budapest: Királyi Magyar Pázmány Péter Tudományegyetemi Román Intézet (Klein's dictionary of 1801, with Gáldi's etymological study), p. 446
13. ^ Lesicon românescu-latinescu-ungurescu-nemțescu quare de mai mulți autori, în cursul a trideci și mai multor ani s-au lucrat (1825), Buda: Typographia Universității (the Lexicon of Buda, ed. Petru Maior et al.), p. 655
14. ^ a b Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. solz