zahăr

Forms

zahăr n (uncountable)^[1] Regional forms are zahar (Moldavia) and zăhar (Transylvania, Banat); Ispirescu writes of a girl „frumoasă de pare că era făcută de zahar” “so beautiful she seemed made of sugar”.^[2][3][4] MDA2 also lists the old forms zacar, zacăr, zahâr and zehar.^[5]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Modern Greek ζάχαρη (záchari), in the older form ζάχαρι (záchari), according to Ciorănescu, Tiktin, MDA2 and DEX.^{[3][2][5][6][1]} DEX compares Bulgarian захар (zahar), and Graur argued that the word came from Bulgarian, which has exactly the Romanian form: a Greek source explains neither the /ă/ nor the loss of the final /i/.^[6][7] The Bulgarian etymological dictionary records his view.^[8] It also survives south of the Danube: Aromanian záhare, from Greek.^[9][10]

The Greek word goes back through Byzantine Greek ζάχαρις (zákharis) to Ancient Greek σάκχαρις (sákkharis).^[8][1] The Greek is from Pali sakkharā, from Sanskrit शर्करा (śárkarā, “gravel, grit; sugar”).^[8][1] The same word reached the European languages through Arabic سُكّر (sukkar).^[3][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to 1508.^[2] MDA2's first record is in Miron Costin's chronicle, of the late 17th century.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The word names the crystalline sweet substance made from sugar cane and, later, sugar beet;^[6] o căpățână de zahăr is a sugarloaf.^[6][2] Kinds of sugar are named with it: zahăr de struguri “glucose”, zahăr de lapte “lactose”, zahăr candel “sugar candy”.^[6][5] De zahăr describes a very kind person, and zahăr is also excess glucose in the blood, diabetes.^[6][2] Ciorănescu lists the derivatives zaharniță “sugar bowl”, zăhăros “sugary”, zaharica “sweet” from Greek, and the verb zaharisi “to candy”.^[3] In drug slang it is a sugar cube soaked in LSD.^[12]

Timeline

• 1508 – the first record.^[2]
• c. 1686 – zahăr in Miron Costin's De neamul moldovenilor.^[5]
• 1886 – Barcianu's dictionary gives zahăr de ghiață “sugar candy” and căpățână de zahăr “sugarloaf”.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. sugar: a white crystalline sucrose, soluble in water and sweet, made mainly from sugar beet or sugar cane.^[6][5]
2. zahăr de struguri, de lapte, de malț: glucose, lactose, maltose.^[6]
3. de zahăr (of people): very kind, sweet.^[6][2]
4. Excess glucose in the blood; the disease it causes, diabetes (also boală de zahăr).^[6]

Word family

• zăhăret
• zaharica
• zaharisi
• zaharniță
• zăhăros

Related words

• Aromanian záhare

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. zahăr
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. zahăr
4. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 4, 717
5. ^ a b c d e f Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 1532
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1215
7. ^ Graur, Alexandru (1963), Etimologii romînești, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. s.v. zahăr
8. ^ a b c Georgiev, Vladimir I. et al. (eds.) (1971–), Bălgarski etimologičen rečnik, Sofija: Izdatelstvo na Bălgarskata akademija na naukite, p. 1, 616
9. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1132
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, 103
11. ^ Cihac, A. de (1879), Dictionnaire d'étymologie daco-romane II: Éléments slaves, magyars, turcs, grecs-moderne et albanais, Frankfurt am Main, p. 712
12. ^ Volceanov, George (2007), Dicționar de argou al limbii române, București: Niculescu, p. s.v. zahăr
13. ^ Barcianu, Sava Popovici (1886), Dicționar român-germân și germân-român, revised by D. P. Barcianu, part I: român-germân, Sibiu: Institut tipografic, p. 699