vărgat

Forms

vărgat m or n (feminine singular vărgată, masculine plural vărgați, feminine/neuter plural vărgate)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Romanian vargă (“rod; stripe”) + -at, according to DEX, MDA2, Tiktin and Scriban.^[2][3][4][5] Ciorănescu lists it among the derivatives of vargă but adds that it could also come directly from Latin virgātus (“striped”), as Pușcariu and the REW hold.^[6][7] Wiktionary calls the Latin adjective the probable source, and Șăineanu gave only the Latin.^[1][8] The Latin adjective is formed on virga (“twig, switch”) and meant both “made of twigs” and “striped”.^[9][1]

The adjective survives south of the Danube as Aromanian virgat and Megleno-Romanian virgat.^[6] The REW gives Italian vergato and Old Occitan vergat as Romance cognates.^[7] MDA2 compares Italian vergate for the sense of watermarked paper.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is the Palia de la Orăștie of 1581–1582, at Exodus 28:39, where it is said of a woven fabric.^[4] MDA2 cites the same passage of the Palia.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The core sense is “striped”, said of fabrics, clothes, animals and plants.^[2][4] Cantemir used it figuratively in his Istoria ieroglifică (1705): „Cât de pestriț și de vărgat grăiește” “how motley and streaky his speech is”.^[4] A rarer sense is “marked with weals from blows”.^[3][10]

Regionally it is said of hair streaked with grey, and in old texts, by extension, of spotted animals.^[3] Placed after the name of an animal or plant it names a striped variety, and in particular it describes convicts' striped clothes.^[10]

Timeline

• 1581–1582 – vărgat of a fabric in the Palia de la Orăștie (Exodus 28:39).^[4][3]
• 1664 – vărgat glossing a Slavonic word for “variegated” in Lex.Pet.^[11]
• 1705 – figurative use in Cantemir's Istoria ieroglifică.^[4]
• 1801 – vargat with Latin virgatus in Klein's dictionary.^[12]
• 1825 – vărgatu “striped” in the Lexicon de la Buda.^[13]

Meanings

Adjective

1. striped: having stripes of a different colour from the ground; dungat.^[2][3][1]
2. (rare) Marked with weals from blows.^[3][10]
3. (regional, of hair) Streaked with grey.^[3]
4. (rare, of paper) Showing lines visible against the light.^[3]

Related words

• vargă
• Latin virgātus

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1186
3. ^ 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, 1425
4. ^ 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. vărgat
5. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1395
6. ^ 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. vargă
7. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 9362
8. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 688
9. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b c Dima, Eugenia (coord.) (2007), Dicționar explicativ ilustrat al limbii române, Chișinău: Arc / Gunivas, p. s.v. vărgat
11. ^ Ungureanu, Mădălina; Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Moruz, Alexandru (eds.), eRomLex: The First Romanian Bilingual Dictionaries (17th century), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. s.v. vărgat
12. ^ 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), p. 473
13. ^ 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. 745