ficior

Forms

ficior m (plural ficiori, definite articulation ficiorlu, definite plural ficiorlji)^[1]

• Plural ficiori, definite singular ficiorlu, definite plural ficiorlji.^[1][2]
• Other spellings: ficioru, fcior, fitsior, fitsioru and fãcior in Wiktionary;^[1] fičiór in Papahagi's dictionary;^[3] ficióru, definite ficiórlu, in Mihăileanu's Romanian-based spelling;^[4] φιτσόρου (fitšóru) in Nikolaidis;^[5] fecior in Obedenaru, as cited by Pascu.^[6]
• Regional forms: fič'or, and fčor for a child under three, in the village of Turia.^[7][8]

Etymology

It is probably inherited from Vulgar Latin *fētiolus, a diminutive of Latin fētus (“offspring”);^[6][3][1][5] Pușcariu and Candrea–Densusianu derive Romanian fecior from the same form, and its feminine fecioară (“virgin”) from *fētiola.^[9][10] Ciorănescu thinks it more likely that the Romanian word was formed within Romanian from făt (“child”).^[11] The other Eastern Romance cognates are Megleno-Romanian fičór and Istro-Romanian fečór.^[12][13][11] Outside Eastern Romance the REW lists other derivatives of fētus, such as Marchigiano fetone (“boy”) and Portuguese fedelho (“small child”).^[14] Latin fētus meant “parturition” and “offspring, young”,^[15] and goes with the adjective fētus “having recently given birth”, which de Vaan traces to Proto-Italic *fēto- and Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁-to- (“having given birth”).^[16]

Earliest recorded meaning

Pascu names Boiagi's grammar of 1813 among his sources for ficior “son, boy”, and quotes from it the adjective ficiorescu “childish” and the adverb ficioreaste “like a child”.^[6]

Semantic evolution

From “offspring” the word came to mean a child, above all a boy, and a son.^[15][17][1] Cunia's first sense is a child, male or female, of a married couple, and his second a young man.^[2] In Turia the plural names all the children of one marriage.^[7] Mihăileanu quotes ficióru micu “a small child”,^[4] and Papahagi's folk tales have ficior-mușat and ficior-aleptu, the hero of the tales.^[6]

Timeline

• 1813 – ficiorescu “childish” in Boiagi's grammar, as cited by Pascu.^[6]
• 1901 – ficióru “boy, child” in Mihăileanu's dictionary.^[4]
• 1909 – Nikolaidis derives φιτσόρου from Latin *fetiolus.^[5]
• 1925 – Pascu derives it from Latin *fetiolus.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A child of a couple; a son.^[17][1][7]
2. A boy.^[1][6][4]
3. A young man.^[2][1]

Word family

• ficiurac
• ficiurami
• ficiureatsã
• ficiurescu
• ficiuric

Related words

• fet
• Romanian fecior

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net), p. 451
3. ^ a b Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1159
4. ^ a b c d Mihăileanu, Ștefan (1901), Dicționar macedo-român, București, p. 190
5. ^ a b c Νικολαΐδης, Κωνσταντίνος (1909), Ετυμολογικόν λεξικόν της κουτσοβλαχικής γλώσσης, Αθήνα, p. 569
6. ^ a b c d e f g 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, 85
7. ^ a b c Бара, Мариана; Каль, Теде; Соболев, Андрей Н. (2005), Южноарумынский говор села Турия (Малый диалектологический атлас балканских языков, серия монографий 1), p. 351
8. ^ Бара, Мариана; Каль, Теде; Соболев, Андрей Н. (2005), Южноарумынский говор села Турия (Малый диалектологический атлас балканских языков, серия монографий 1), p. 345
9. ^ Pușcariu, Sextil (1905), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der rumänischen Sprache I: Lateinisches Element, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 51
10. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Densusianu, Ov. (1907–1914), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române: elementele latine (A–Putea), București
11. ^ 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)
12. ^ Saramandu, Nicolae (coord.) et al. (2010–), Dicționarul dialectului meglenoromân, general și etimologic, fascicles in Fonetică și dialectologie XXIX–
13. ^ Kovačec, August (1998), Istrorumunjsko-hrvatski rječnik (s gramatikom i tekstovima), Pula
14. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
15. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
16. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
17. ^ a b Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net)