Zvarluga

In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "tolgs001" <gs001ns@...> wrote:

>> very quick fish called "zvârlugã"
>
> [variant "vârluga"]
>
> Cobitis taenia (compl. different from sturgeons)
>
>> with unknown etymology.
>
> Hypothesis: it might be put into connection with "zbârlog".
> (zbârlog, zbârlit, zburlit, zbor$it) If there's a semantic
> link betw. the figurative senses ("excitement, fear, wrath")
> of these and "swiftness" (namely, in the Rum. locution "as
> swift as a zvârluga").

My guess is that the word is onomatopoeic (from "zvâr", word
which imitates the noise of a thrown object -- consequently,
a fast-moving object; from the same root one has "(a)zvârli"
`to throw (with fast movements)`. The composite "zvârlugã"
should thus design a swift being. DEX gives unknown etymology,
but in this case they were probably too cautious (maybe for
that suffix issue, probably Slavic but not very productive in
Romanian).

Regards,
Marius Iacomi