sufleca

Forms

sufleca (first-person singular present suflec, third-person singular present suflecă, past participle suflecat) 1st conjugation^[1] Regional forms are many: sufulca in Transylvania and the Banat, sufluca in Maramureș, suvulca and suvolca in Transylvania, suvelca and zuvelca in Muntenia and Oltenia, and supleca or suplica in Moldavia.^[2][3][4] Folk poetry has sufulca: „Crâșmărița … Poale albe sufulca” “the innkeeper's wife … tucked up her white skirts”.^[3]

Etymology

The origin is uncertain.^[2][1] The usual view is that it is inherited from Vulgar Latin *subfollicō (“to puff up like a bellows”), formed on follis (“bellows”) (Romanian foale): Pușcariu proposed it, and the REW, Tiktin, Candrea–Densusianu, MDA2 and DEX follow him.^{[2][5][3][6][4][7]} Candrea–Densusianu explain the sense by the puffed-out shape of a tucked-up garment, and derive the standard form from the infinitive and sufulca from a present ⟨*sufolc⟩.^[6] Ciorănescu finds this unsatisfying in meaning and difficult in form, and compares înfuleca.^[2]

The other proposal is supplicō (“to kneel; to beseech”), which Cihac, Ascoli, G. Meyer, Densusianu and Philippide preferred.^[2] MDA2 and DLR mention it beside the first.^[2][4][8] It suits the sense of folding under better, but /pl/ does not normally become /fl/.^[2][5] Ciorănescu notes that the variant supleca occurs in Dosoftei and Cantemir in the sense “to humble, subdue”, which fits the idea of turning up, as Romanian sumete “to tuck up” matches Spanish someter; the REW lists it under the same Latin verb, with Occitan soplegar and Catalan soplegar.^[2][5] Wiktionary leans to this view.^[1]

The Oltenian forms suvelca and zuvelca were influenced by zavelcă “apron”.^[2] Giuglea derived suvulca from *subvolvicō, and Iordan the whole verb from suffulciō (“to prop up”).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is the Romanian–Latin glossary of the Anonymus Caransebesiensis, from the second half of the 17th century.^[4] Tiktin dates it to about 1670.^[4][3] DLR cites it there before the Lexicon de la Buda.^[8]

Semantic evolution

The verb has kept one main sense: to roll or fold up sleeves, trouser legs or skirts so that they stay dry or clean or leave the arms and legs free.^[8][4][7] Creangă's heroine rolls up her sleeves to tread clay and plaster the oven.^[3] By analogy one could sufleca a moustache, stroking it upwards.^[3][9]

Regional speech in the Banat and Transylvania has a-și suflica mucii “to sniff back one's snot” and a reflexive a se sufleca “to snivel, whimper”.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 1650-1700 – the Anonymus Caransebesiensis glossary, the first record.^[4][3]
• 1825 – the Lexicon de la Buda records the verb.^[8]
• 1893-1895 – Damé glosses a-și sufleca mânecile with French “retrousser ses manches”.^[10]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To roll up or tuck up the edges of a garment, usually the sleeves or the skirt, to keep them dry or to move more freely; a synonym of sumete: Și-a suflecat pantalonii și a trecut pârâul.^[7][4][1]
2. (reflexive) To roll up one's sleeves: S-a suflecat la mâneci și s-a apucat de treabă.^[7]
3. (regional) a-și suflica mucii: to sniff back one's snot.^[4]
4. (reflexive, regional, Banat and Transylvania) To snivel, to whimper.^[4]

Related words

• sumete
• foale
• înfuleca

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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. sufleca
3. ^ 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. sufleca
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 1046
5. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 8432
6. ^ a b Candrea, I.-A.; Densusianu, Ov. (1907–1914), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române: elementele latine (A–Putea), București, p. s.v. sufleca
7. ^ a b c d DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1070
8. ^ a b c d Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. sufleca
9. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 4, 296
10. ^ Damé, Frédéric (1893–1895), Nouveau dictionnaire roumain-français, 4 vols., Bucarest: Imprimerie de l'État, p. s.v. sufleca