vorbă
Romanian
Etymology
Maybe from Latin verbum (“word”)[1][2] through *vărbu, subsequently *vărbă by singularization of the supplanted neuter plural up to Lua error in Module:utilities at line 142: attempt to perform arithmetic on local 'h' (a nil value) in analogy to the change from [ə] to [o] in the imperative vino from vină. The intermediate form *vărbu is strengthened by related Aromanian vãrghescu (“to quarrel, scold, urge”), having turned [b] into [g] which is a common trait. For instance, in the singular corbu and in the plural corghi.
Conversely, it might have come from Old Church Slavonic дворьба (dvorĭba), from *dvorъ (“court”), as sustained by the presupposed variant horbă (“gathering, word”).[1] In the 17th century it still had the meaning of "gathering", attested by Dosoftei, but already by 1744, as attested by Ion Neculce, it seems to have shifted to "word" in case this meaning was not already encompassed previously. Moreover, in old texts, a word dvorbă, presumably of this etymology, meant "service to the court", and was never confused with vorbă.[1]
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈvor.bə/
Audio (file) Audio (file) - Rhymes: -orbə
- Hyphenation: vor‧bă
Noun
vorbă f (plural vorbe)
- talk, talking, speaking
- (mildly archaic, poetic or regional) word
- conversation, discussion
- a intra în vorbă cu cineva
- strike up a conversation with someone
- (obsolete) a gathering
Declension
| singular | plural | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| indefinite articulation | definite articulation | indefinite articulation | definite articulation | |
| nominative/accusative | (o) Lua error in Module:utilities at line 142: attempt to perform arithmetic on local 'h' (a nil value) | vorba | (niște) vorbe | vorbele |
| genitive/dative | (unei) vorbe | vorbei | (unor) vorbe | vorbelor |
| vocative | Lua error in Module:utilities at line 142: attempt to perform arithmetic on local 'h' (a nil value), vorbo | vorbelor | ||
Synonyms
- (word): cuvânt
References
- Alexandru Ciorănescu (1966), “vorbă”, in Dicționarul etimologic român, San Cristóbal de La Laguna: University of La Laguna
- vorbă in DEX online—Dicționare ale limbii române (Dictionaries of the Romanian language)