sfaca

Forms

sfaca (invariable)^[1]

• Other spellings: SFÁCA, stressed on the first syllable, in Papahagi's dictionary.^[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Bulgarian всеки (vseki, “each, every”), whose feminine is всяка (vsjaka);^[3] Papahagi's DDA derives the Aromanian word from Bulgarian, and Capidan does the same for the Megleno-Romanian one.^[2][4] The Bulgarian pronoun corresponds to Old Church Slavonic вьсакъ (vĭsakŭ, “every, of every kind”), which Vasmer derives from the word for all (Russian весь (vesʹ, “all”)) and compares with Lithuanian visõks (“of every kind”).^[5]

Megleno-Romanian has the word too, sfaca, which Capidan's dictionary writes with â in the first syllable.^[6][4]

Semantic evolution

The word kept the sense of its Bulgarian source: it singles out each member of a group, one by one.^[1][2] Papahagi quotes sfáca om cum l'i-u cruítă ("every man as his fate is cut out for him").^[2]

Meanings

Pronoun

1. each, every; every one.^[1][2]

Usage notes

Papahagi and Cunia give pasa as a synonym, and Cunia also cati and its variants.^[2][1]

References

1. ^ a b c d Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net), p. 920
2. ^ a b c d e f Papahagi, Tache (1974), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, 2nd augmented ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. 1077
3. ^ Georgiev, Vladimir I. et al. (eds.) (1971–), Bălgarski etimologičen rečnik, Sofija: Izdatelstvo na Bălgarskata akademija na naukite, p. 1, 194
4. ^ a b Capidan, Theodor (1935), Meglenoromânii III: Dicționar meglenoromân, București: Academia Română, p. 263
5. ^ Vasmer, Max (1964–1973), Ètimologičeskij slovar' russkogo jazyka, transl. and suppl. by O. N. Trubačev, 4 vols., Moskva: Progress
6. ^ Candrea, I.-A. (1927–1937), Glosar megleno-romîn I–IV, Grai și suflet III: 175–209; IV: 381–413; VI: 163–193; VII: 194–233, p. 197