# Vechil



## Norwegian Wood

What's the meaning of "vechil"? Is it a Romanian or Bulgarian word? Thank you.


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## Aoyama

I think it means "old" in Romanian, but the spell must be a bit different ...


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## Norwegian Wood

Aoyama said:


> I think it means "old" in Romanian, but the spell must be a bit different ...



Could be vech'il?


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## parakseno

Hello there,

I must confess I had to search my dictionary for this one. I've never heard this word before, but it does exist. In older times a "vechil" was a person who supervised work on the domains of a "boier" (a rich person - boyar, landowner). It seems it comes from the Turkish "vekil".

There is no connection with "vechi" ("old") which is of Latin origin.

Parakseno.


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## Aoyama

> There is no connection with "vechi" ("old") which is of Latin origin.


Right, my mistake. Thank you for the explanation.


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## parakseno

Aoyama said:


> Right, my mistake. Thank you for the explanation.



Well, to tell you the truth, my first thought, when I saw this word, was as well that it had something to do with "vechi" (old). But it looked a bit strange  a termination to be a derived word.


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## Trisia

Hi,

Parakseno is right about this one. A modern word for _vechil _would be "administrator" or "superintendent".

If you Romanians wonder where to find that word, try children's storybooks.


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## parakseno

Trisia said:
			
		

> Hi,
> 
> Parakseno is right about this one. A modern word for _vechil _would be "administrator" or "superintendent".


Well, my dictionary was right about this. 



			
				Trisia said:
			
		

> If you Romanians wonder where to find that word, try children's storybooks.



Didn't expect reading children's storybooks would send you to the dictionary.  Anyway, this is not a word one would hear in everyday language. It more likely to find it in literature or history books.


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## Aoyama

Well, to tell you another truth, my knowledge of Romanian, sadly enough, is quite weak. And when it comes to involve words of Turkish origin (and we know they are quite a few), well ...
But then, also, if you can find this word in _children books_ ... Vai de mine ...


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## Aoyama

It may also be that _vechil_ is akin to _vizir_ and its many different spellings in various languages ...


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## parakseno

Well, not quite... in Romanian at least. "Vizir" is a much higher "rank" (in the Ottoman Empire and Muslim countries) comparable to today's "minister", while "vechil" is much like, as Trisia said, "administrator".


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## Aoyama

Right. A _satrap_ maybe ...


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## parakseno

"Satrap" is again a state position. A "satrap" was the ruler of a province in the Persian Empire. "Vechil" was an overseer of a nobleman's domains. Another Romanian word for it would be "vătaf". Another English word would be "steward" (Dictionary.com unabridged, meaning 1)


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