zvon

Forms

zvon n (plural zvonuri)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Old Church Slavonic звонъ (zvonŭ, “sound, noise”), a loan from the Slavonic of the church.^{[2][3][4][5][1]} The Slavonic word continues Proto-Slavic *zvonъ (“sound”).^[1][6] In the Old Church Slavonic texts it means “sound, noise, din” and also “bell”, and it translates Ancient Greek ἦχος (êkhos).^[7]

The Slavic word has cognates in Russian звон (zvon, “ringing sound”), Czech zvon (“bell”) and Polish dzwon.^[6][8] Pokorny linked it to Albanian zë (“voice”) and reconstructed a root Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰwon-;^[6][1] Derksen holds that *swenh₂-, the root of Latin sonus (“sound”), must also be considered.^[6][1] The Bulgarian etymological dictionary lists the Romanian noun, its variant, the verb and zvonar “bell-ringer” among the borrowings of the Slavic word.^[9]

The variant zvoană is, in Tiktin's view, a back-formation from the verb zvoni.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is in the Menaion for February, printed in 1698.^[5] MDA2 gives Budai-Deleanu's Romanian–German lexicon of 1818 as its first record, and the DLR cites the same lexicon for the sense “rustle”.^[4][3]

Semantic evolution

The Slavonic sense “sound” is the old core: the DLR puts first the distant sound of bells and musical instruments, then the soft, indistinct noise of leaves, wind and running water.^[3] Tiktin quotes the hum of bees from a folk song and the murmur of voices in a crowd, and gives “rumour” as a second sense, with an instance of zvon public “public rumour” from Melchisedec.^[5] In DEX 2009 the order is reversed: the “news passing from mouth to mouth” and the unverified, sometimes tendentious report come first, the natural sounds last.^[2]

The phrase a da zvon “to make known, to announce” is popular;^[5][4] Tiktin quotes villagers who “gave out word” that the village would break up.^[5][4] The verb zvoni is first recorded in 1892, in Marian's study of birth customs, which also has the diminutive zvonișor.^[5][4]

Timeline

• 1698 – zvon in the Menaion for February, the first record.^[5]
• 1818 – in Budai-Deleanu's lexicon.^[4][3]
• 1871 – the Banat word zvon “bell” in Laurian and Massim's dictionary.^[4]
• 1892 – the verb zvoni and the diminutive zvonișor in Marian's Nașterea la români.^[4][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A rumour: news that passes from one person to another; by extension, an unverified and sometimes tendentious report.^[2][4]
2. A hubbub: the noise of many voices or of a moving crowd.^[2][10]
3. A faint, confused sound in nature, made by water, leaves, wind or birds; a murmur or rustle.^[2][3]
4. The distant sound of bells or musical instruments.^[2][3]

Word family

• zvoni

Usage notes

DEX 2009 records a feminine variant zvoană.^[2] In the Banat zvon also means “bell” or “cattle bell”; the DLR and MDA2 treat it as a separate word, borrowed from Serbo-Croatian zvono.^[3][4]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f 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. 1230
3. ^ a b c d e f g Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. zvon
4. ^ 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, 1589
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. zvon
6. ^ a b c d Derksen, Rick (2008), Etymological Dictionary of the Slavic Inherited Lexicon, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 4, Leiden / Boston: Brill
7. ^ Kurz, Josef; Hauptová, Zoe (eds.) (1958–1997), Slovník jazyka staroslověnského / Lexicon linguae palaeoslovenicae, 4 vols. + supplements, Praha: Academia; digital ed. gorazd.org
8. ^ Vasmer, Max (1964–1973), Ètimologičeskij slovar' russkogo jazyka, transl. and suppl. by O. N. Trubačev, 4 vols., Moskva: Progress
9. ^ Georgiev, Vladimir I. et al. (eds.) (1971–), Bălgarski etimologičen rečnik, Sofija: Izdatelstvo na Bălgarskata akademija na naukite, p. 1, 623
10. ^ Academia Republicii Populare Romîne (1958), Dicționarul limbii romîne moderne, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1, 960