tovarăș

Forms

tovarăș m (plural tovarăși, feminine equivalent tovarășă)^[1] An old variant is tovaroș: a text of 1783 has „decât ai lui șase tovaroși” “than his six companions”.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is a Slavic loan, and the dictionaries name its immediate source differently.^[4][3][1] MDA2, the DLR and DEX take it borrowed from Ukrainian товариш (tovaryš), with Russian товарищ (továrišč) beside it, and Wiktionary names Ukrainian alone.^[4][2][5][1] Ciorănescu, following Miklosich and Cihac, derives it from Old Church Slavonic товарищь (tovarištĭ), and Tiktin and Șăineanu compare the same word.^[3][6][7] The word is widespread in Slavic: Polish towarzysz and Serbo-Croatian товариш (tovariš) are cognates.^[3][1] It goes back to Proto-Slavic *tovariščь, formed with the suffix *-iščь on *tovarъ.^[1] Scriban glosses that base as “load, burden”.^[8] The communist sense “comrade, fellow party member” was taken from Russian.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to about 1670, in Simion Dascălul's additions to the Moldavian chronicle;^[9] MDA2 and the DLR quote the same text: „au chemat pre toți tovarășii săi” “he called all his companions”.^[6][4][2] The sense there is “companion, fellow”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

From “companion” the word came to mean a partner in a business, an associate, a sense Tiktin marks as old.^[6][4] The Bucharest Bible of 1688 uses it for companions and fellows.^[9] Tiktin quotes it from Cantemir's Divanul and the Mărgăritare, where devils are said to love their fellow devils, tovaroșii lor.^[6] Set phrases include tovarăș de drum “travelling companion” and tovarăș de viață “husband”, with the feminine tovarășă de viață “wife”.^[6][4][5] The old military sense was a rank-and-file soldier.^[4]

Under communism tovarăș became the official form of address between party members, used alone or before a name or title, and the feminine tovarășa was the schoolchildren's name for their teacher;^[10] MDA2 and DEX label both as out of use.^[4][5] In prison slang it names a cellmate who shares one's parcel, a protégé, or an accomplice.^[10]

Timeline

• c. 1670 – tovarășii “his companions” in Simion Dascălul.^[6][4]
• 1688 – tovarăș and its plural in the Bucharest Bible.^[9]
• 1783 – the variant tovaroș.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A companion: a person bound to another by a shared life, activity or cause.^[5][4]
2. tovarăș de viață: a husband;^[11] tovarășă de viață: a wife.^[5][4]
3. (historical) comrade, the official form of address between communists.^[5][4]
4. A creature, usually an animal, that keeps someone constant company.^[5][4]
5. An associate or partner in a business.^[5][4]
6. (feminine, colloquial, historical) tovarășa: the kindergarten or school teacher.^[5][4]

Word family

• tovărășie
• tovărășiță
• întovărăși
• tovarășă

Related words

• camarad

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. tovarăș
3. ^ a b c d 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. tovarăș
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 1246
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1134
6. ^ 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. tovarăș
7. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 659
8. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1333
9. ^ a b c Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Judges 14:11
10. ^ a b Volceanov, George (2007), Dicționar de argou al limbii române, București: Niculescu, p. s.v. tovarăș
11. ^ Academia Republicii Populare Romîne (1958), Dicționarul limbii romîne moderne, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne