zgău

Forms

zgău n (plural zgăuri)^[1]

Etymology

The origin is unclear.^[2][3] DEX, MDA2 and the DLR call it of unknown origin.^[2][4][5] Ciorănescu derives it inherited from Latin cavum (“hollow, cavity”), compared with gaură “hole”.^[3] He takes the initial /z/ either as an expressive addition or as a trace of the Latin prefix ex-.^[3] Wiktionary gives the same derivation as probable.^[1] Ciorănescu adds that Albanian zguië may have been taken from Romanian.^[3] The Latin noun is the neuter of cavus (“hollow”).^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki of the early 16th century, where the word renders “womb” in Psalm 21, the speaker taken out of his mother's womb.^[7][4][5]

Semantic evolution

In the 16th- and 17th-century church texts the word is the usual name of the womb: the psalters, Coresi's Gospels and the Bucharest Bible of 1688, which has „Tot ce deșchide zgăul” “all that opens the womb” in Exodus 13:12.^[5][8][9] The Slavonic–Romanian lexicons of the 17th century use it to gloss Old Church Slavonic ложесна (ložesna) and утроба (utroba).^[10] The sense widened to the belly in general and, regionally, the stomach.^[4] Klein's dictionary of 1801 glosses it “vulva”.^[11] Later dictionaries add a cavity in an organ of the body and simply a hole.^[12][2] Today the word is dated.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1500–1520 – zgău “womb” in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki, the first record.^[7][4]
• c. 1573–1578 – the Psaltirea Scheiană has the word in Psalm 72.^[8]
• 1649 – Mardarie's lexicon glosses Slavonic “womb” with it.^[10]
• 1688 – the Bucharest Bible uses it more than forty times.^[13][8]
• 1801 – Klein's dictionary glosses it “vulva”.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. (dated) The womb or belly of a female, a uterus.^[2][4]
2. (dated) A cavity in an organ of the body.^[2][12]
3. (dated) A hole.^[2][1]

Word family

• zgăura

Related words

• găoace
• găun
• gaură
• Latin cavum

Usage notes

Old set phrases: din zgăul mamei “from one's mother's womb”, that is, from before birth or from birth;^[4][14] a prinde în zgău “to conceive”.^[4][14]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1223
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. zgău
4. ^ 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, 1566
5. ^ a b c Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. zgău
6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Ungureanu, Mădălina; Moruz, Alexandru et al., roPsalt: Re-evaluating the Sixteenth Century Romanian Psalters (aligned corpus), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. Ps 21:10
8. ^ a b c Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. zgău
9. ^ Candrea, I.-A. (1916), Psaltirea Scheiană comparată cu celelalte psaltiri din sec. XVI și XVII traduse din slavonește, vol. II: Glosarele, București: Socec, p. 412
10. ^ a b 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. zgău
11. ^ a b 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. 467
12. ^ a b Academia Republicii Populare Romîne (1958), Dicționarul limbii romîne moderne, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1, 955
13. ^ Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. IEȘIREA 13:2
14. ^ a b Dima, Eugenia (coord.) (2007), Dicționar explicativ ilustrat al limbii române, Chișinău: Arc / Gunivas, p. s.v. zgău