zgaibă

Forms

zgaibă f (plural zgaibe)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin scabia, the late form of scabiēs (“roughness, itch, mange”), from scabō (“to scratch”).^{[2][3][4][5][1]} For the change of ⟨-bia⟩ to ⟨-ibă⟩, Ciorănescu compares habeat and aibă.^[6] He also answers the objection that the senses do not match: the Latin word may have kept its original sense, an itch that makes one scratch.^[6] The REW notes that Weigand took the Romanian word from Albanian instead.^[5]

The word survives south of the Danube: Aromanian zgaibã.^[7][8] Its cognates include Italian scabbia and Albanian zgjebe, and scabie is its learned doublet.^[4][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin and MDA2 find it first in the Palia de la Orăștie (1581–1582), in the plague of boils of Exodus 9:9.^[4][3] The Bucharest Bible of 1688 has it for a wound: „nici rană, nici struncinare, nici zgaibă înflată” “neither wound nor bruise nor swollen sore” (Isaiah 1:6).^[9][4]

Semantic evolution

In the old and popular language the word named several diseases with sores on the skin: mange, scab, leprosy, anthrax, boils and erysipelas.^[10][3] The Banat glossary Anonymus Caransebesiensis renders it with Latin words for mange and leprosy, and the Lexicon de la Buda (1825) with words for a carbuncle.^[11][12] Today it is a small sore or scratch that has begun to scab, and the scab itself.^[2][4] Regionally it is also a bad or ugly person, and the devil;^[3][13][14] a se ține zgaibă de cineva is to stick to someone like a burr.^[3][13][14]

Timeline

• 1581–1582 – in the Palia de la Orăștie, the first record.^[4][3]
• 1688 – zgaibă and zgaibele in the Bucharest Bible.^[9]
• 1775 – zgaiba răutății “the sore of wickedness” in a book of homilies.^[4]
• 1825 – Sgaibả “carbuncle” in the Lexicon de la Buda.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. A small sore, wound or scratch that has begun to scab.^[2][1]
2. The scab that forms over a wound; zgancă.^[2][14]
3. (popular) A disease of the eyes.^[2]
4. (popular) A disease of cattle with small pustules on the body.^[2][14]

Related words

• scabie
• Aromanian zgaibã

Usage notes

MDA2 and the DLR have a second zgaibă, a variant of zgaidă.^[3][10]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1223
3. ^ 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, 1565
4. ^ 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. zgaibă
5. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 7634
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. zgaibă
7. ^ 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. 1, 188
8. ^ Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net), p. 1123
9. ^ a b Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Isaia 1:6
10. ^ a b Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. zgaibă
11. ^ Costinescu, Mariana; Georgescu, Magdalena; Zgraon, Florentina (1987), Dicționarul limbii române literare vechi (1640–1780): termeni regionali, București: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică, p. 328
12. ^ a b 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. 641
13. ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1438
14. ^ a b c d Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. zgaibă