sugel

Forms

sugel m (plural sugei)^[1] The southern and western form is sugiu (Muntenia, Oltenia, Dobruja), a singular remade from the plural sugei.^[2][3] MDA2 also records the regional forms sângel and sujir.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *sūgillum, sigillum (“seal; little figure”) crossed with sūgillō (“to beat black and blue, bruise”).^[3][1] Ciorănescu follows Pușcariu and the REW, and compares Italian suggello “seal”; the REW lists the Romanian word under the Latin noun with the sense “whitlow”.^[3][5] The Italian word, recorded from 1283, is a popular form of the same Latin noun, and Nocentini names the Romanian word among its Romance relatives.^[6][7] Pușcariu took the word from a remodelled form of the noun, “little sign” (a diminutive of signum), as the Italian and Old Lombard forms need, perhaps under the influence of the verb meaning “to bruise”.^[8] The Latin noun is formed on the word for “sign” with a diminutive suffix.^[9]

Tiktin and Candrea saw the influence of suge “to suck”, as if the sore came from sucking the finger.^[2] Ciorănescu finds this unnecessary, while DEX gives the Latin noun with the influence of the Romanian verb.^{[3][2][3][10]} Scriban and Șăineanu also compared the verb, and MDA2 compares sânge as well.^[11][12][4] The learned sigiliu continues the same Latin word.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to 1703.^[2] Klein's dictionary of 1801 glosses Sugél with Latin Panaritium, a whitlow, and the Lexicon de la Buda of 1825 has sugelu “a whitlow, the worm on the finger”.^[13][14][4] Cornea describes it as the sore that comes up beside the nail of a finger or toe.^[15]

Semantic evolution

The sore came first in the records; folk medicine and superstition kept the word: one should not put a spindle or spoon in the fire, or one gets a sugiu on the fingers, and no charm is spoken against it.^[2][15] In Bukovina it also means a callus.^[4][15]

As a plant name sugel is Transylvanian: the red deadnettle (Lamium purpureum), with sugel alb for the white deadnettle and sugel galben for the yellow archangel.^[2][16][4] Regional compounds also name comfrey and the cowslip.^[4] DLRLC treats the plant and the sore as two homographs.^[17]

Timeline

• 1703 – the first record.^[2]
• 1801 – Sugél “whitlow” in Klein's dictionary.^[13]
• 1825 – sugelu “whitlow” in the Lexicon de la Buda, MDA2's first record.^[14][4]
• 1929 – Panțu's plant names give sugel for the red deadnettle in Transylvania.^[16]

Meanings

Noun

1. Red deadnettle (Lamium purpureum): a small strong-smelling herb with purple, pink or white flowers.^[10][1] Sugel alb is the white deadnettle (Lamium album), and sugel-galben the yellow archangel (Galeobdolon luteum).^[10][4][1]
2. (popular) A whitlow, a panarițiu: an inflammation beside the nail of a finger or toe.^[10][4]

Related words

• sigiliu
• Latin sigillum

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 Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. sugel
3. ^ 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. sugel
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 1049
5. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 7903
6. ^ Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
7. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
8. ^ Pușcariu, Sextil (1905), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der rumänischen Sprache I: Lateinisches Element, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 155
9. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b c d DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1071
11. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1, 1263
12. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 1, 626
13. ^ a b 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. 452
14. ^ a b 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. 684
15. ^ a b c Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. sugel
16. ^ a b Panțu, Zach. C. (1929), Plantele cunoscute de poporul român. Vocabular botanic cuprinzând numirile române, franceze, germane și științifice, 2nd ed., București: Editura Casei Școalelor, p. 294
17. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 4, 299