surcea

Forms

surcea f (plural surcele)^[1][2] The older form surcel (neuter, plural surcele; also masculine) survives regionally.^[3][2][4] A diminutive form surcică is common, and Moldavia also has ciurcea.^[5][6] Coresi writes the plural surceale: „culegea neşte aşchii şi neşte surceale, aduna cum să facă foc” “he was gathering some chips and some kindling, collecting it to make a fire”.^[6][5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin surcellus (“twig”), a popular variant of surculus (“shoot, twig”), which is a diminutive of sūrus (“post, stake, branch”).^{[4][3][6][1][7]} The regular outcome of the Latin word is surcel, and the feminine was made from its plural ⟨surcele⟩.^[4][5][2] Ungureanu describes the path as a neuter first, then a feminine made from the neuter plural.^[8]

The word survives south of the Danube: Aromanian surțel and Megleno-Romanian surțǫl.^[4][9][10] In Romance it is kept in northern Italian dialects: Lombard sorsel “brushwood” around Como, Milan and Brescia.^[4][11][8] The etymology goes back to Cihac, Densusianu and Pușcariu.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is a Coresi print of 1564, quoted in Gaster's chrestomathy, where a man gathers chips and kindling to make a fire.^[3][6][5]

Semantic evolution

The word names a small, thin, dry piece of wood, kindling, and specially a chip that flies off when wood is hewn or split.^[3][6] The proverb surcica nu sare departe de trunchi “the chip does not fly far from the log” is the Romanian counterpart of “the apple does not fall far from the tree”.^[5][12][13]

Figurative and regional senses grew from it: offspring; in Moldavia, in the plural, a kind of crumbly fried pastry; in slang, the ribs.^[3][12][14] Scriban notes the plural for money or food that does not exist: cu surcele “with chips”.^[13]

Timeline

• 1564 – in a Coresi print, the plural surceale, the first record.^[3][5]
• 1648 – in the New Testament of 1648: Paul gathers kindling for the fire.^[6]
• c. 1660 – surcel in a Slavonic–Romanian lexicon, as the equivalent of a Slavonic word.^[15]
• 1891 – Gaster's glossary gives it as “wood shaving”.^[16]

Meanings

Noun

1. A chip or splinter of wood that flies off when wood is hewn or cut; by extension a dry twig, gătej, a small stick.^[2][1]
2. (figurative) An offspring.^[3]
3. (regional, Moldavia, in the plural) A crumbly fried pastry.^[12][14][3]
4. (slang, in the plural) The ribs.^[3]

Word family

• surceli

Related words

• Aromanian surțel
• Latin surculus

Usage notes

Fixed expressions: a face sânge pe o surcea “to boast of doing more than one can”, and regionally a lua pe cineva la trei surcele “to take someone sharply to task”.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1079
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 1070
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. surcea
5. ^ 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. surcea
6. ^ 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. surcea
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b Ungureanu, Dan (2024), Istoria limbii române, Chișinău: Cartier, p. 362
9. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 996
10. ^ Pascu, Giorge (1925), Dictionnaire étymologique macédoroumain, 2 vols. (I: Les éléments latins et romans; II: Les éléments grecs, turcs, slaves, albanais, germaniques, magyars, néologismes, créations immédiates, obscurs), Iași: Cultura Națională, p. 1, 164
11. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 8472
12. ^ a b c Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 4, 316
13. ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1269
14. ^ a b Stati, Vasile (2003), Dicționar moldovenesc-românesc, Chișinău, p. 293
15. ^ Ungureanu, Mădălina; Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Moruz, Alexandru (eds.), eRomLex: The First Romanian Bilingual Dictionaries (17th century), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. s.v. surcel
16. ^ Gaster, M. (1891), Chrestomatie română: texte tipărite și manuscrise (sec. XVI–XIX), dialectale și populare, cu o introducere, gramatică și un glosar româno-francez, vol. II, Leipzig: Brockhaus / București: Socec, p. s.v. surcea