vag

Forms

vag m or n (feminine singular vagă, plural vagi)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French vague, borrowed from Latin vagus (“roaming, wandering”): these are the two sources DEX, MDA2, the DLR and Wiktionary give.^[2][3][4][1] Ciorănescu names only the French word, Scriban only the Latin one.^[5][6] The Latin adjective is related to vagor (“to wander”).^[7][8] De Vaan reconstructs Proto-Italic *wago- and, with a question mark, a Proto-Indo-European form related to Germanic verbs for tottering.^[8] Its Romance continuations include Italian vago, Spanish vago and Portuguese vago.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Negulici's dictionary of neologisms (1848) has it with the Latin vagus and the glosses “dim, unclear”.^[10] MDA2's first record is in Heliade-Rădulescu's works, which it does not date; the DLR quotes him on music expressing only vague ideas.^[3][4]

Semantic evolution

The sense has stayed “unclear, imprecise”, said of ideas, feelings, sights and sounds, and used as an adverb too: vag fericit “vaguely happy”.^[11][2] As a neuter noun it means what is vague, as in a se pierde în vag “to lose oneself in generalities”.^[12][2] In anatomy nervul vag is the vagus nerve, a sense taken from the Latin name.^[2][7] MDA2 records an old feminine plural vage.^[3]

Graur groups it with other Romanian descendants of the Latin word family: vagabond, divaga and extravagant.^[13]

Timeline

• 1848 – in Negulici's dictionary of neologisms.^[10]
• 1939 – Scriban lists the adjective and the adverb.^[6]

Meanings

Adjective

1. vague, lacking clarity or precision; unclear, uncertain, confused; often as an adverb.^[2][3][1]
2. (anatomy) nerv vag, also as a masculine noun: the vagus nerve, one of the twelve cranial nerves, important for breathing, circulation and digestion.^[2][12]

Noun

1. (neuter) What is vague;^[2][12] a se pierde în vag “to lose oneself in generalities”.^[2][12]

Related words

• vagabond
• divaga
• extravagant

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. 1180
3. ^ a b c d Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 1406
4. ^ a b Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. vag
5. ^ 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. vag
6. ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1, 1388
7. ^ a b Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. vag
8. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ a b Negulici, I. D. (1848), Vocabular romînesc de toate vorbele streine întroduse pînă acum în limba romînească și de toate cuvintele ce s-ar mai putea introduce încă, București, p. s.v. vag
11. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 4, 611
12. ^ a b c d Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. vag
13. ^ Graur, Alexandru (1980), Cuvinte înrudite, București: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică