tavan

Forms

tavan n (plural tavane or tavanuri)^[1] Regional variants are taban, taivan and tăvan.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ottoman Turkish تاوان (tavan), a word of the Ottoman Turkish layer.^{[4][5][2][6][1][7]} Eren calls the Turkish word's origin unknown and compares Syrian Arabic, while Babiniotis suggests an Arabic source with a question mark.^[8][9] The same Turkish word spread through the Balkans: Modern Greek ταβάνι (taváni), Albanian tavan and Serbo-Croatian tavan, with the same form in Bulgarian.^{[4][7][10][8]} South of the Danube it was borrowed separately: Aromanian tăvane and Megleno-Romanian tavan.^[4][11][12]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is a document of 1791 quoted by Șăineanu, which speaks of oak or beech boards for a ceiling, „podina pentru tavan de stejar sau de fag”.^[2][7][6][3]

Semantic evolution

The word has meant the ceiling of a room from the first, and by extension the top of a cave or a cellar and the roof of a mine working.^[3][5] In 1939 Scriban marked it as a western word, saying that in the east bagdadie was used instead.^[13] Figurative uses include a ceiling of clouds, and the phrase a sta cu ochii în tavan “to sit staring at the ceiling”, that is, to idle or to be lost in thought.^[14][3][2] Regional senses are a long thin fir board used to build the loft of a house, each covered end of a boat where the boatmen sleep, the floor of a room, and a swelling of the hoof in cattle.^[3][2][15]

Timeline

• 1791 – tavan “ceiling” in a document quoted by Șăineanu.^[2][7]
• 1870 – listed in Costinescu's dictionary as a foreign word, with a cross-reference to plafond.^[16]
• 1886 – Barcianu's Romanian–German dictionary glosses it as a panelled ceiling.^[17]
• 1900 – Șăineanu records the sense “long thin fir board”.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. The ceiling of a room; a plafon.^[5][1]
2. The upper part of a cave, a cellar or a mine working.^[5][2]
3. (regional) A long thin fir board used to build the loft of a house.^[5]
4. (regional) Each of the two ends of a boat, where the boatmen sleep.^[5][3]

Word family

• tăvăni

Related words

• plafon
• Aromanian tăvane
• Ottoman Turkish تاوان (tavan)

Usage notes

The plural is tavane, rarely tavanuri.^[5][3] A sta cu ochii în tavan means “to sit idle”.^[5]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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, 1162
3. ^ a b c d e f g Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. tavan
4. ^ a b c 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. tavan
5. ^ 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. 1, 1105
6. ^ a b Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. taván
7. ^ a b c d e Șăineanu, Lazăr (1900), Influența orientală asupra limbei și culturei române, vol. I: Introducerea; vol. II.1: Vorbele populare; vol. II.2: Vorbele istorice, literare, Indice, București: Socec
8. ^ a b Eren, Hasan (1999), Türk Dilinin Etimolojik Sözlüğü, Ankara: Bizim Büro, p. 396
9. ^ Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας, p. 1454
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. 2, 169
11. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1028
12. ^ Capidan, Theodor (1935), Meglenoromânii III: Dicționar meglenoromân, București: Academia Română, p. 292
13. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1, 1301
14. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 4, 389
15. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc
16. ^ Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci
17. ^ Barcianu, Sava Popovici (1886), Dicționar român-germân și germân-român, revised by D. P. Barcianu, part I: român-germân, Sibiu: Institut tipografic