tabără

Forms

tabără f (plural tabere)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Old Church Slavonic таборъ (taborŭ, “camp”), the Slavonic word that DEX, NODEX, Scriban and Șăineanu give as its source.^[2][3][4][5] MDA2 and the DLR name borrowed from Hungarian tábor beside the Slavonic form.^[6][7] Ciorănescu traces the word further back to a Turkic source, Turkish or more probably Tatar, which reached Romanian partly through Slavonic, as Miklosich, Tiktin and Candrea had held; he compares Bulgarian табор (tabor), Serbo-Croatian tabor, Polish tabor and Russian табор (tabor).^[8] Tiktin likewise derives it from a Turkish or Tatar form that came in by several routes.^[9]

The Hungarian word is recorded from 1383 in the sense “army” and is held to be a loan from a Turkic language;^[10][11] TESz compares Chagatai forms meaning “army, troop” and Ottoman forms meaning “belt, palisade, wagon fort”.^[10][11] Wiktionary lists the Romanian word among the borrowings of the Turkic word that also gave Ottoman Turkish طابور (tabur).^[1] The south-Danubian forms, Aromanian tăbure (“battalion”) and Megleno-Romanian tăbur (“battalion”), are separate loans from Turkish.^[12][13]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin and MDA2 date the first record to the Palia de la Orăștie of 1581–1582, where the Amorites are said to have lived „în tabără” “in camp”.^[9][6][7] A place name Tabăra is recorded in 1613.^[9]

Semantic evolution

The first sense is a military camp, in tents or in the open, often fortified; from it came the collective sense, everything that belongs to a camp: men, tents, carts and animals.^[6][14] The Lexicon de la Buda of 1825 also gives the senses “army” and “war” (a merge la tabără “to go to war”) and “crowd”.^[15] Old texts use it for a halt of troops on the march and for a column of carts, tabără de care.^[6][9]

The sense “group, party” opposed to another group is recorded by Tiktin and survives in political use.^[9][2] In the 20th century the word came to name holiday camps for children and pupils and the training camps of athletes.^[2][6] Regional senses include a field where maize was gathered for the landlord's tithe and a pen for sheep or horses, and the phrase a lăsa totul tabără means “to leave everything in disorder”.^[6][16][14] In slang it means “prison”.^[17] The word also became a personal name, recorded from 1655.^[18]

Timeline

• 1581–1582 – tabără “camp” in the Palia de la Orăștie, the first record.^[9][6]
• 1613 – the place name Tabăra.^[9]
• 1648 – în tabără “into the camp” in the New Testament of Bălgrad.^[7]
• 1655 – Tabăra as the name of a cavalryman.^[18]
• 1688 – the plural tabere in the Bucharest Bible.^[19]
• 1825 – the senses “camp”, “army”, “war” and “crowd” in the Lexicon de la Buda.^[15]

Meanings

Noun

1. A camp where troops are quartered for a time outside towns, to train under field conditions; also a halt on a march.^[2][1]
2. A temporary settlement in tents or huts; a holiday camp for children or pupils; a training camp for athletes.^[2][3]
3. A column of carts, moving or halted; a convoy.^[2][6]
4. (dated) An army; by extension a crowd, a throng.^[2][6]
5. A group opposed to another; a faction fighting for a common cause.^[2][1]

Word family

• tăbăraș
• tăbărî

Related words

• Hungarian tábor
• Aromanian tăbure

Usage notes

The plural is tabere; popular speech also has taberi.^[6][4]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1098
3. ^ a b Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. tabără
4. ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1292
5. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 633
6. ^ 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, 1145
7. ^ a b c Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. tabără
8. ^ 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. tabără
9. ^ a b c d e f g Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. tabără
10. ^ a b Benkő, Loránd (ed.) (1967–1976), A magyar nyelv történeti-etimológiai szótára, 3 vols., Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, p. 3, 818
11. ^ a b Gerstner, Károly (ed.) (2006–), Új magyar etimológiai szótár, Budapest: Nyelvtudományi Kutatóközpont; online at uesz.nytud.hu, p. s.v. tábor
12. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne
13. ^ Capidan, Theodor (1935), Meglenoromânii III: Dicționar meglenoromân, București: Academia Română, p. 287
14. ^ a b Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 4, 371
15. ^ 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. 692
16. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Densusianu, Ov.; Speranția, Th. D. (1906–1908), Graiul nostru. Texte din toate părțile locuite de români, 2 vols., București: Socec, p. 211
17. ^ Volceanov, George (2007), Dicționar de argou al limbii române, București: Niculescu, p. s.v. tabără
18. ^ a b Constantinescu, N. A. (1963), Dicționar onomastic romînesc, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. s.v. tabără
19. ^ Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Gen 32:7