încoace

Forms

încoace^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Romanian în + acoace, the second part being an old adverb “hither” that survives only in compounds with prepositions.^[2][3][4] That adverb is from Latin eccum (“behold”) + hoc (“hither”) in an extended form Vulgar Latin *hocce.^[2][5][4] DEX, MDA2 and Wiktionary take the whole compound from *in-eccum-hocce.^[6][7][1] Philippide and Candrea–Densusianu started instead from the same particle with *hacce, from hāc (“this way”).^[2][3] DELR rejects this: Latin /kʷa/ would have become /pa/ or lost its labial, as in aci from hīc (“here”), and the sense of direction favours the form with /o/.^[2]

DELR gives the forms Aromanian ncoațe, Megleno-Romanian ăncoați and Istro-Romanian âncoč.^[2] It also compares Dalmatian, where Wiktionary has Dalmatian cauc from the same Latin form.^[2][1]

The short form încoa, Aromanian ncoa, is to DELR and Ciorănescu a shortening of the full form.^[2][3][8] Candrea–Densusianu traced it to the particle with the adverb “this way”, and Pușcariu and the DA to the particle with illāc (“that way”).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR's first record is the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki (c. 1500), and every 16th-century psalter has the word in Psalm 72:10.^[2][9] MDA2 cites Coresi's homiliary of 1581.^[7] In 1649 Mardarie's lexicon glosses Slavonic сѣмо “hither” with it.^[10]

Semantic evolution

The adverb first meant motion towards the speaker, and soon also time up to the present: de la o vreme încoace “for some time now”.^[5][6] Joined to its opposite, încoace și încolo means “to and fro”, and ce mai încoace și încolo “why argue?”.^[6][7] The imperative phrase vino-ncoace “come here” became a noun, “charm, attraction”: a avea pe vino-ncoace “to be attractive”.^[5][6] Tiktin thinks the short form încoa was first used in încoace și încolo;^[5][2] DELR's first record of it is from 1829.^[5][2]

Timeline

• c. 1500 – in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki.^[2][9]
• 1570 – in Coresi's Psalter.^[9]
• 1581 – in Coresi's homiliary.^[7]
• 1616 – the simple acoace in dentr-acoace.^[2]
• 1649 – in Mardarie's Slavonic–Romanian lexicon.^[10]
• 1829 – the short form încoa.^[2]

Meanings

Adverb

1. hither, here: towards the speaker, in this direction: Vino încoace!^[6][7][1]
2. Towards the present time, nearer to our days: de câțiva ani încoace “for a few years now”.^[6][5]

Word family

• dincoace

Related words

• încolo
• Aromanian ncoa

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2011–), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române (DELR), vol. I: A–B (2011), vol. II: C (2015–2018), București: Editura Academiei Române; continued online at delr.lingv.ro, p. s.v. acoace
3. ^ a b c Ciorănescu, Alexandru (1958–1966), Diccionario etimológico rumano, La Laguna: Universidad de La Laguna (Romanian ed.: Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române, București: Saeculum, 2001), p. s.v. încoace
4. ^ a b Academia Română (1913–1949), Dicționarul limbii române (DA), ed. Sextil Pușcariu, tom I (A–B, C, D–De) and tom II (F–I, J–Lojniță), București: Socec / Universul / Monitorul Oficial și Imprimeriile Statului; page scans at cflr-scans.solirom.ro, p. s.v. încoace
5. ^ a b c d e f Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. încoace
6. ^ a b c d e f DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 541
7. ^ a b c d e Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 1212
8. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 739
9. ^ a b c Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Ungureanu, Mădălina; Moruz, Alexandru et al., roPsalt: Re-evaluating the Sixteenth Century Romanian Psalters (aligned corpus), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. Ps 72:10
10. ^ a b Ungureanu, Mădălina; Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Moruz, Alexandru (eds.), eRomLex: The First Romanian Bilingual Dictionaries (17th century), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. s.v. încoace