spaniol

Forms

spaniol m or n (feminine singular spaniolă, masculine plural spanioli, feminine/neuter plural spaniole)^[1] Old texts have șpaniol, ișpaniol and ispaniol (also written spagnol), and rarely spanior;^[2][3] Grigore Ureche writes that a prince entered the country „cu nemții, cu șvezii și cu șpanioli”, “with the Germans, the Swedes and the Spaniards”.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French espagnol and Italian spagnolo, shaped after the country name Spania.^{[4][5][6][3][1]} Ciorănescu names only the Italian spagnuolo, and Tiktin derives it from the Italian word through various intermediaries.^[7][8] For the old variants the DLR compares Hungarian spanyol and German Spanier.^[2] The Hungarian word itself comes from a northern Italian form.^[9]

The Italian word is formed on Spagna (“Spain”).^[1] The French word goes back through Old Occitan espanol to Vulgar Latin *Hispaniolus, from Latin Hispānus, from Hispānia (“Spain”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is in Grigore Ureche's chronicle, about 1640, where it names the people of Spain among the soldiers of an army.^[8][2] Nicolae Costin writes that Trajan was a Spaniard by birth: „Traian de neamul său era șpaniol”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The word names the people of Spain, a Spaniard, and as an adjective anything belonging to Spain; the feminine noun spaniolă is the Spanish language.^[4][3] MDA2 records gripă spaniolă, the grave influenza that spread from Spain over the world after the First World War, and regional uses for a breed of sheep and a breed of black hens.^[3] The sheep breed is usually called spancă, a separate loan from Russian.^[7] Marcu also records spaniolă for a kind of scarf worn over the head.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 1640 – șpanioli “Spaniards” in Grigore Ureche's chronicle, the first record.^[8][2]
• 1886 – Barcianu's tabac spaniol “Spanish snuff”.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. A Spaniard: a person of the people of Spain or from Spain; in the plural, the Spanish people.^[4][3]
2. spaniolă (feminine) – the Spanish language: Vorbește bine spaniola.^[4][6]

Adjective

1. Spanish: belonging to Spain or to the Spaniards, or coming from Spain;^[4][3] gripă spaniolă “Spanish flu”.^[4][3]

Word family

• spaniolesc
• spaniolește

Related words

• Spania
• hispanic
• French espagnol
• Italian spagnolo

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. spaniol
3. ^ 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, 940
4. ^ a b c d e f DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1036
5. ^ Costăchescu, Adriana; Dincă, Daniela; Dragoste, Ramona; Popescu, Mihaela; Scurtu, Gabriela (2009–2010), Dicționar de împrumuturi lexicale din limba franceză (DILF), 2 vols., Craiova: Universitaria, p. s.v. spaniol
6. ^ a b c Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. spaniol
7. ^ a b 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. spaniol
8. ^ a b c Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. spaniol
9. ^ Zaicz, Gábor (ed.) (2006), Etimológiai szótár: magyar szavak és toldalékok eredete, Budapest: Tinta Könyvkiadó, p. s.v. spanyol
10. ^ Barcianu, Sava Popovici (1886), Dicționar român-germân și germân-român, revised by D. P. Barcianu, part I: român-germân, Sibiu: Institut tipografic, p. 598