târg

Forms

târg n (plural târguri)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Old Church Slavonic тръгъ (trŭgŭ, “marketplace, market”), the Old Church Slavonic word that renders Ancient Greek ἀγορά (agorá).^{[2][3][4][5][6][7]} Ciorănescu follows Miklosich and Cihac in this, and compares Russian торг (torg, “cattle market”) and Albanian treg.^[2] Wiktionary is more cautious: it calls the Slavic source possible, compares Bulgarian търг (tărg), and names a Balkan substrate as the alternative.^[1] Ciorănescu also mentions Lozovan's link with a pre-Romance root ⟨*terg⟩, which he finds possible but not documented well enough.^[2]

The Slavonic word continues *tъrgъ, whose relatives are Lithuanian turgus (“market”), Latvian tirgus and the Albanian word;^[8] Vasmer also compares the Venetic place name of Trieste.^[8] Its further origin is unclear.^[1] Two derivatives come from Slavonic as well: târgoveț “townsman” from тръговьць (trŭgovĭcĭ, “merchant”) and târgui “to buy, to bargain” from тръговати (trŭgovati).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to 1413, in a Slavo-Romanian document.^[5] The first Romanian text is the Codicele Voronețean (c. 1563–1583), which renders the Forum of Appius of the Acts of the Apostles as târgul Apiei: the word meant a marketplace.^[3][6] A document of 1591 already uses it for a town: „din târg din Totruș” “from the town of Trotuș”.^[5]

Semantic evolution

From “marketplace” the word passed to the trading done there, a bargain, and to the agreement on the price.^[4][2] A place with a market grew into a town, so that in the old language sate și târguri meant “villages and towns”; in Moldavia târg was the usual word for any town.^[9][5] Ciorănescu dates the first administrative organization of the market towns to Alexandru Lăpușneanu in 1561.^[2] Today the town sense is popular, and it also names the commercial centre of a city.^[4][10]

The 1688 Bible uses the word for the marketplace of the Gospel: „văzu pre alții stând în târg fără lucru” “he saw others standing idle in the marketplace”.^[5] Klein's dictionary of 1801 distinguishes the yearly fair de țară, the weekly market and the cattle market.^[11] The Lexicon de la Buda of 1825 gives both the market and the bargain between two people.^[12] Set names for traditional fairs followed: Târgul de fete “the girls' fair” on Mount Găina in the Țara Moților, and Târgul Moșilor in Bucharest.^[3][4]

Timeline

• 1413 – first record, in a Slavo-Romanian document.^[5]
• 1561 – the first administrative organization of the market towns, under Alexandru Lăpușneanu.^[2]
• c. 1563-1583 – târgul Apiei “the Forum of Appius” in the Codicele Voronețean.^[3][6]
• 1591 – târg “town”: „din târg din Totruș”.^[5]
• 1645 – târgul și cumpărarea “the market and the buying” in a translation of Herodotus.^[6]
• 1649 – listed in Mardarie's Slavonic–Romanian lexicon.^[13]
• 1688 – the Bucharest Bible: „stând în târg fără lucru” (Matthew 20:3).^[5]
• 1801 – Taerg “market, fair” in Klein's dictionary.^[11]
• 1825 – the Lexicon de la Buda glosses it as a market and a bargain.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. A market or fair: an open space in or at the edge of a town where livestock, grain, food and other goods are bought and sold, daily or on set days: zi de târg “market day”;^[4][3] Târgul de fete the yearly folk festival on Mount Găina.^[4][3]
2. A sale or purchase, a bargain;^[4][10] (popular) an agreement: a face târg cu cineva “to strike a deal with someone”, a se ajunge cu târgul “to agree on the price”, la spartul târgului “at the very end, too late”.^[4][10]
3. A small town, a market town;^[4][1] (popular) the centre of a town, its shopping quarter.^[4][1]

Word family

• târgui
• târgoveț
• târguială

Related words

• Albanian treg

Usage notes

Ciorănescu explains the phrase gură de Târgoviște “a sharp tongue” by the reputation of the women of the town of Târgoviște, whose name is formed on the word; he rejects Weigand's reading of it as “market town” in general.^[2] A proverb of the market says târgul n-are mânie: haggling over the price should give no offence.^[9]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. tîrg
3. ^ 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, 1182
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1110
5. ^ 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. târg
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. tîrg
7. ^ Kurz, Josef; Hauptová, Zoe (eds.) (1958–1997), Slovník jazyka staroslověnského / Lexicon linguae palaeoslovenicae, 4 vols. + supplements, Praha: Academia; digital ed. gorazd.org
8. ^ a b Vasmer, Max (1964–1973), Ètimologičeskij slovar' russkogo jazyka, transl. and suppl. by O. N. Trubačev, 4 vols., Moskva: Progress
9. ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1324
10. ^ a b c Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional
11. ^ 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)
12. ^ 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.)
13. ^ Ungureanu, Mădălina; Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Moruz, Alexandru (eds.), eRomLex: The First Romanian Bilingual Dictionaries (17th century), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro