suge

Forms

a suge (present sug, third-person singular suge, simple perfect supsei, past participle supt); third conjugation.^[1][2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin sūgō (“to suck”).^{[4][5][2][6][1][7]} The word survives in all four branches: Aromanian sug, Megleno-Romanian sug and Istro-Romanian sugu.^[4][8][9] Its Romance cognates include Italian suggere and Portuguese sugir.^[4][7][10]

The Latin verb goes back to Proto-Indo-European *sewg- (“to suck”), and is cognate with Old English sūcan.^[11][1] Romanian lent the derivative sugar “suckling” to Bulgarian and Modern Greek.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

MDA2's first record is the Psaltirea Scheiană of about 1573–1578, where the verb is used of a nursing child;^[5][2][6] Tiktin also dates it from that psalter.^[5][2][6] Candrea's glossary of the psalter records the forms suge, supseră and sugătoriul.^[12]

Semantic evolution

The first sense is that of a baby or a young animal drawing milk from the breast or udder.^[6][3] The Bucharest Bible of 1688 has “my brother, who sucked the breasts of my mother” (Song of Songs 8:1).^[2][13] From it come drawing in any liquid, letting a sweet melt in the mouth, drawing on a cigarette and, of a porous body, absorbing.^[3][5]

Colloquially the verb means to drink, and to be a drunkard.^[3][14][15] Figuratively it is to drain someone of wealth or strength: a suge sângele cuiva “to suck someone's blood” is to exploit him.^[3] Reflexively it is said of cheeks that sink in from weakness.^[3][4] Ciorănescu notes that sugaci “suckling” is a literary word, unknown in the spoken language.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 1573–1578 – in the Psaltirea Scheiană, the first record.^[5][2]
• 1688 – sugând “sucking” in the Bucharest Bible (Song of Songs 8:1).^[13]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To suck milk from the breast or the udder.^[3][1]
2. To draw in a liquid with the mouth; to let something dissolve slowly in the mouth: suge o bomboană “he sucks a sweet”; to draw on a pipe or a cigarette.^[3]
3. (colloquial, derogatory) To empty a vessel, to drink; to be a drunkard.^[3][15]
4. Of a porous body: to absorb liquids.^[3]
5. (figurative) To drain someone of wealth, power or strength; to exploit.^[3]
6. (reflexive) Of the cheeks: to sink in from weakness or the loss of teeth.^[3]
7. (popular) To kiss.^[5]

Word family

• sugaci
• sugar
• sugător
• supt
• suptură

Related words

• Aromanian sug
• Latin sūgō

Usage notes

A suge (ceva) odată cu laptele mamei is to acquire a habit from early childhood, and a-și suge de sub unghii “to suck from under one's nails” is to be very stingy.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. suge
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1071
4. ^ 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. suge
5. ^ 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, 1048
6. ^ a b c d Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. suge
7. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 8438
8. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 989
9. ^ Capidan, Theodor (1935), Meglenoromânii III: Dicționar meglenoromân, București: Academia Română, p. 280
10. ^ Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli, p. s.v. suggere
11. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill, p. s.v. sūgō
12. ^ Candrea, I.-A. (1916), Psaltirea Scheiană comparată cu celelalte psaltiri din sec. XVI și XVII traduse din slavonește, vol. II: Glosarele, București: Socec, p. 389
13. ^ a b Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Cânt 8:1
14. ^ Damé, Frédéric (1893–1895), Nouveau dictionnaire roumain-français, 4 vols., Bucarest: Imprimerie de l'État, p. 2
15. ^ a b Volceanov, George (2007), Dicționar de argou al limbii române, București: Niculescu, p. s.v. suge