încuia

Forms

încuia (third-person singular present încuie, past participle încuiat, third-person subjunctive încuie), first conjugation^[1] Banat speech has încuna, with the present încun.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *incuneō, a verb with the prefix in- built on Latin cuneō (“to fasten with wedges”), which is derived from cuneus (“wedge”).^[1][2][4][5] Ciorănescu and the REW start from the unprefixed Latin verb, with the Romanian verb as a prefixed derivative.^[6][7] The DA notes that the prefixed form is found in other Romance languages too, so it probably goes back to Latin.^[5] Candrea and Densusianu compare Old French encoignier (“to put in a corner”), Occitan enconhar and Catalan encunyar.^[8] The origin of the Latin noun itself is unclear.^[9]

The Latin noun also gave cui (“nail”).^[3][1] Tiktin and the DA explain the sense from the old way of shutting a door with a wooden peg, so that only the holder of the peg could open it.^[3][5] Ciorănescu thinks rather that the Latin noun came to mean “key” as well, as clāvus (“nail”) stands beside clāvis (“key”).^[6] He follows Capidan in taking Aromanian ancuñare (“to catch fire”) as the same Latin verb, and the REW gives it the senses “to stiffen” and “to catch fire”.^[6][7]

Wiktionary compares Albanian ngujoj (“to shut in”).^[1] Çabej takes the Albanian verb as a formation of Albanian itself from kunj (“peg”), not from a reconstructed Latin verb, and raises the possibility of a Romanian formation from the same noun for the Romanian verb too.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is in the Slavonic–Romanian Gospel book of 1551–1553, at Matthew 25:10, where the door was shut.^[3] MDA2 dates the word from Coresi's Carte de învățătură of 1581,^[2] where heaven is shut: „Ceriul încuie”.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The first sense is to shut a door, a gate or a chest with a key, a bolt or a padlock.^[5][4] The object could also be a person or an animal shut in a room or a stable, and in the reflexive the verb means to shut oneself away, as monks did in a cell.^[5][2] The Mărgăritare of 1746 have „el o pune în ladă și o încuie” “he puts it in a chest and locks it”.^[3][5]

Figurative senses followed: to stop the mouth or the ears, and, in familiar speech, to leave someone with nothing to answer.^[2][4] Slang keeps this last sense.^[11] In popular speech the verb means to make or become constipated.^[6][4][3] Regional dictionaries from Maramureș and Moldova record this sense.^[12][13] MDA2 adds popular senses for women unable to give birth or to have children.^[2]

Timeline

• 1551–1553 – in the Slavonic–Romanian Gospel book, Matthew 25:10.^[3]
• 1581 – încuie in Coresi's Carte de învățătură.^[2][5]
• 1589 – încuiară and încuie in a psalter of 1589.^[14]
• 1649 – the participle încuiat in Mardarie's Slavonic–Romanian lexicon.^[15]
• 1688 – încuia and încuie in the Bucharest Bible.^[16]
• 1746 – a chest that is locked, in the Mărgăritare.^[3][5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To lock a door, a gate or a lock with a key, a bolt or a padlock.^[4][2][1]
2. To keep someone shut in a locked room.^[4][2]
3. (reflexive) To shut oneself in, to isolate oneself in a room.^[4][2]
4. (figurative, colloquial) To leave someone with nothing to answer.^[4][11][1]
5. (popular) To make or become constipated.^[4][6][13]

Word family

• încuietoare
• încuiere
• încuietură
• încuietor

Related words

• cui
• descuia

Usage notes

The opposite is descuia (“to unlock”).^[6] Ciorănescu says that it may continue a Latin *discuneare or be a Romanian formation, as deschide stands beside închide.^[6]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 1217
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. încuia
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 542
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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. încuia
6. ^ a b c d e f g 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. încuia
7. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 2392
8. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Densusianu, Ov. (1907–1914), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române: elementele latine (A–Putea), București
9. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
10. ^ Çabej, Eqrem (2002), Studime etimologjike në fushë të shqipes VI (N–Rr), Tiranë, p. 78
11. ^ a b Volceanov, George (2007), Dicționar de argou al limbii române, București: Niculescu, p. s.v. încuia
12. ^ Ștef, Dorin (2021), Dicționar de regionalisme și arhaisme din județul Maramureș, 3rd ed., Baia Mare, p. s.v. încuiá
13. ^ a b Stati, Vasile (2003), Dicționar moldovenesc-românesc, Chișinău
14. ^ 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 16:11
15. ^ 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. încuiat
16. ^ Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Isaia 26:20