Este rom. boier un cuvânt împrumutat? By Sorin Paliga

https://www.academia.edu/145478285/Este_rom_boier_un_cuv%C3%A2nt_%C3%AEmprumutat Is boier 'boyar' a borrowed word? According to a persistent, but entirely unfounded, hypothesis Rom. boier-together with its related forms in Albanian, South Slavic, Russian and even Lithuanianwould reflect a Pre-Ottoman Turkic influence related to a root bay-'elevated, high, long'. The historical and linguistic data do not support this hypothesis. Rom. boier is, in fact, an internal evolution based on bou, pl. boi 'ox' (also bull), just like oaie, pl. oi 'sheep'-oier 'shepherd'. A boier was initially an 'owner of cattle', therefore a 'rich man'. The association 'owner of cattle, owner of herds'-'rich man' is obvious in the relation Lat. pecu, pecus 'herd, flock; cattle, sheep; money'-pecuniosus 'rich, wealthy'-pecunia 'money, property'. This situation, well recorded in the classical Roman society and reflected in the Latin language, explains how bos, bovis, in postclassical Latin *bovus, resulted in Rom. bou, hence, by the same association 'owner of cattle' = 'rich, wealthy man', further the largely spread term boier. Its distribution on a large area (southeast Europe, Russia, even Lithuania) shows that the term must have been consolidated its position before the 10th c. A.D., already in East Romance. There are traces that the same word was used in West Romance as well, as proved by the French personal name Boyer, of the same origin and, initially, with the same meaning: 'owner of cattle'. The Occitan Cathar song Lo boièr (French Le bouvier, English The herdsman) is another proof that the word has been preserved in West Romance as well, but without the meaning 'rich man', which developed in East Romance only. The area of the Eastern Roman Empire is the source of the word, later spread on a large area, reaching Medieval Rus' and the Baltic area. Historical, linguistic and heraldic data concur to this conclusion. The hypothesis that boier is a Pre-Ottoman Turkic influence should be finally abandoned. It is not supported by any serious argument. Note. This article is an updated version of the original study Este boieria o instituție împrumutată (Is boyardom a borrowed institution?), ...