crai

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin crās (“tomorrow”).^[2][3][4][1] Devoto takes the change of the final /as/ to /ai/ as regular.^[5] In most of Romance the Latin word was replaced by forms of dē māne (“in the morning”), such as Italian domani and French demain.^[6][7] It survives in Sicilian crai, in Calabrian and Apulian, and in Sardinian cras, and it was Old Spanish cras and Old Galician-Portuguese cras.^[6][7] The compound “after tomorrow” is limited to Sardinian and southern Italy, as Neapolitan piscrai, also Calabrian.^[6]

The origin of the Latin word is unclear.^[8][1] De Vaan notes Faliscan cra (“tomorrow”) and suggests that it may be an old genitive of the Proto-Indo-European word for “head” (Proto-Indo-European *ḱerh₂- (“head, top”)), shifting through “in front” to “tomorrow”; no Proto-Indo-European word for “tomorrow” can be reconstructed.^[8][1] The OLD compares a Sanskrit word for “tomorrow”, while de Vaan rejects a link with Avestan words for “early in the morning”.^[9][8] Wiktionary relates Italian procrastinare, a learned borrowing, to the same word.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is Jacopone da Todi, in the last decade of the 13th century, with the sense “the following day, tomorrow”.^[2] GRADIT and Zingarelli date it before 1306.^[3][4]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian also had crai as the cry of the crow and the rook.^[2][10] Religious writers read the cry as “tomorrow”: Saint Catherine of Siena compares those who waste time to the crow che dice cra cra, always putting things off to the next day, and Jacopone speaks of following the rook in crai crai.^[10][11] A proverb, di crai in crai si pasce la cornacchia, spoke of the hopes of an ever-postponed tomorrow.^[11]

The adverb was used by Luigi Pulci and Ariosto but is now archaic in the standard language.^[12][11][3] It survives in some southern regions, especially in the phrases crai e poscrai (tomorrow and the day after) and a crai, on credit: to buy, sell or give a crai.^[13][3] Prati records a crai in popular Tuscan too.^[12]

Timeline

• 1290s – Jacopone da Todi uses crai.^[2]
• Second half of the 13th century – Chiaro Davanzati uses crai for the crow's cry.^[2][10]

Meanings

Adverb

1. (archaic, literary) tomorrow.^[3][4][1]
2. (regional, southern) In crai e poscrai: tomorrow and the day after.^[3][4][13]
3. (regional) In a crai: on credit: comprare a crai.^[3][4][13]

Related words

• domani
• crastino
• procrastinare
• Latin crās

Usage notes

Old Italian also wrote craie and cray.^[2] Gabrielli and Tommaseo record mandare d'oggi in crai, to keep putting something off from one day to the next.^[14][11] A separate Old Italian crai, the crow's cry, is onomatopoeic.^[2][10]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
3. ^ a b c d e f g De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
4. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
5. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1145
7. ^ a b Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
8. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
9. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b c d Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
11. ^ a b c d Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
12. ^ a b Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti
13. ^ a b c Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
14. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli