suleget

Forms

suleget m or n (feminine singular sulegetă, masculine plural sulegeți, feminine/neuter plural sulegete)^[1] Dosoftei writes suleaged: „Și era ... suleaged, albeneț, galbăn” “and he was … slender, fair-skinned, sallow”.^[2][3] Cantemir's Istoria ieroglifică has suleged, săleget and suleaștec.^[2] Suleger is the form of the Lexicon de la Buda.^[2][4]

Etymology

The origin is uncertain.^[4][5] Pușcariu's proposal is that it is inherited from Vulgar Latin *sublicidus, formed on sublica (“a stake, a pile”), and Tiktin, DLR and DEX follow him, Tiktin as probable and DLR with a question.^{[3][2][4][6][1]} The Latin noun is itself of uncertain origin.^[7][1] MDA2 and Șăineanu call the adjective of unknown origin.^[5][8] Cihac listed it in the family of sul “roller”, with Slavic words for a cone or a stem.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is Dosoftei's lives of the saints (1682–1686), where it describes a saint's slender figure.^[5][2]

Semantic evolution

The adjective means slender, thin and long, and by extension delicate and supple.^[5][4] Cantemir used it of columns that grow thinner and more slender as they rise.^[2] DEX labels it obsolete and regional.^[6] Coșbuc revived it in verse for a fairy's slender finger, and Blaga used it figuratively of a gift.^[6][2][4]

Timeline

• 1682-1686 – suleaged in Dosoftei's lives of the saints.^[5][2]
• 1825 – sulegetu “thin, slender” in the Lexicon de la Buda, with Latin subtilis, gracilis.^[10]
• 1886 – Barcianu glosses it with German “zart, schlank”.^[11]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (obsolete and regional) slender, thin and long; subțire, zvelt: o fată sulegetă.^[6][5][1]
2. (by extension) delicate, supple, fine.^[6][5][1]

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. suleget
3. ^ a b Pușcariu, Sextil (1905), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der rumänischen Sprache I: Lateinisches Element, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 156
4. ^ a b c d e Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. suleget
5. ^ a b c d e f g Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 1053
6. ^ a b c d e DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1072
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 1, 628
9. ^ Cihac, A. de (1879), Dictionnaire d'étymologie daco-romane II: Éléments slaves, magyars, turcs, grecs-moderne et albanais, Frankfurt am Main, p. 379
10. ^ 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. 685
11. ^ Barcianu, Sava Popovici (1886), Dicționar român-germân și germân-român, revised by D. P. Barcianu, part I: român-germân, Sibiu: Institut tipografic, p. 622