suvoalbe

Forms

suvoalbe (present suvolb, past participle suvolt), 3rd conjugation^[1][2] The variants suvolba and suvolbi (4th conjugation) are also recorded.^[3][4][2]

Etymology

It is probably inherited from Latin subvolvere (“to roll up, raise”), from sub- and volvō (“to roll”).^[3][2][5][1] Candrea and Densusianu explain the meaning from “to bend, bring down”, said of someone one throws down while wrestling.^[5] Ciorănescu gives the Latin etymology after Candrea and offers another one: învoalbe with a change of prefix.^[4] Wiktionary notes that the Latin verb's meaning is far from the Romanian one, so the Romanian verb may be a later formation on the simple verb.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Candrea and Densusianu cite it from Molnar's German–Romanian grammar with the sense “to roll, stir, rummage”, and, from Poenar's vocabulary and Rădulescu-Codin's Muscel glossary with “to bend, vanquish”.^[5] Rădulescu-Codin's glossary of 1901 defines it as “to defeat, subdue”.^[6] MDA2's first record is the CADE dictionary of 1926.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The word is regional, used in Oltenia and south-western Muntenia, and always has people as its object: to overwhelm, and by extension to defeat.^[3][2] A folk couplet in the DLR calls for help because the uplanders are overpowering the village: „Săriți moși și săriți babe Că susenii ne suvoalbe”.^[2] The older sense “to roll, stir” recorded by Molnar has not survived in the modern dictionaries.^[5][3]

Timeline

• 1901 – in Rădulescu-Codin's glossary of Muscel words, “to defeat, subdue”.^[6]
• 1907–1914 – Candrea and Densusianu derive it from Latin.^[5]
• 1926 – in the CADE dictionary, MDA2's first record.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive, regional, Oltenia and Muntenia) To overwhelm someone; by extension to defeat, subdue.^[3][2][7][1]

Related words

• învoalbe
• Latin volvō

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. suvoalbe
3. ^ 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, 1079
4. ^ a b 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. suvoalbe
5. ^ a b c d e Candrea, I.-A.; Densusianu, Ov. (1907–1914), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române: elementele latine (A–Putea), București, p. s.v. suvoalbe
6. ^ a b Rădulescu-Codin, C. (1901), O seamă de cuvinte din Muscel, Câmpulung, p. 70
7. ^ Bulgăr, Gheorghe; Constantinescu-Dobridor, Gheorghe (2002), Dicționar de arhaisme și regionalisme, 2 vols., București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. suvoalbe