acolo

Forms

acolo^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *eccum illōc (“(over) there”), a phrase of Latin eccum and illōc (“(to) there”).^[2][3][4][1] DELR explains ⟨illōc⟩, used with verbs of motion, as illō, from the stem of the demonstrative ille (“that”), with the particle -ce.^[3] The initial ⟨a-⟩ can be explained in Romanian or may already be Latin, compare the Ibero-Romance demonstratives in ⟨aqu-⟩.^[3] The older form ⟨aculó⟩, kept in Aromanian, became ⟨acoló⟩ by vowel assimilation and then ⟨acólo⟩.^[3][5]

The word survives in all four branches: Aromanian aclo or aculó, Megleno-Romanian colo and Istro-Romanian colo.^[3][6][7][8] Latin ⟨illōc⟩ lived on in Dalmatian, Old Sardinian, Old Italian, Old French and Old Portuguese.^[3][9] Ciorănescu compares Old French illuec, and Wiktionary compares Portuguese acolá.^[2][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki of about 1500–1520.^[3][10] Tiktin's first record is the Slavonic–Romanian Gospel of 1551–1553: Unde iaste mortăciunea, acolo se adună vălturi “wherever the carcass is, there the eagles gather” (Matthew 24:28).^[11]

Semantic evolution

The meaning “in that place, away from the speaker” has not changed;^[12][3] Hasdeu noted that acolo points further away than acolea, which in turn is further than aicea “here”.^[12][3] MDA2 records a rare use for time, “then”.^[4] With prepositions it forms many adverbial phrases: pe acolo “thereabouts”, de acolo “from there”, într-acolo “towards there”, and până acolo “to the point that”.^[13]

Romanian formed several adverbs on it: încolo and dincolo from the shortened colo, and acolea.^[3] For acolea DELR gives several views: a remodelling of acolo after aicea, Latin illāc with eccum, or the influence of Slavonic adverbs in ⟨-ě⟩ (Densusianu).^[3]

Timeline

• c. 1500 – acolo and acolea in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki, the first records.^[3]
• 1551–1553 – acolo and încolo in the Slavonic–Romanian Gospel.^[11][3]
• 1560–1561 – dencoace și dencolo “on both sides” in Coresi's Tetraevangelion, the first record of dincolo.^[3]
• 1567–1568 – acoloși “in the very same place” in Coresi.^[3]
• 1648 – dincolea and încolea in the New Testament of 1648.^[3]

Meanings

Adverb

1. there: in that place, relatively far from the speaker; in another place.^[13][1]
2. With prepositions: pe acolo “thereabouts”, de acolo “from there”, într-acolo “in that direction”;^[13][4] până acolo “to the point (of going too far)”.^[13][4]
3. (rare) At that time, then.^[4]

Word family

• acolea
• acoleși
• acoloși
• dincolo
• încolea
• încolo

Related words

• Aromanian aclo

Usage notes

The stress varies: acólo is usual, acoló also occurs.^[13][2] Colloquial phrases include ce ai acolo? “what have you got there?” and fugi de-acolo! “come off it!”.^[13]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. acolo
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p 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. acolo
4. ^ 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, 9
5. ^ 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. acolo
6. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 52
7. ^ Pascu, Giorge (1925), Dictionnaire étymologique macédoroumain, 2 vols. (I: Les éléments latins et romans; II: Les éléments grecs, turcs, slaves, albanais, germaniques, magyars, néologismes, créations immédiates, obscurs), Iași: Cultura Națională, p. 1, 27
8. ^ Kovačec, August (1998), Istrorumunjsko-hrvatski rječnik (s gramatikom i tekstovima), Pula, p. s.v. coló
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 4270
10. ^ 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 121:3
11. ^ a b Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. acolo
12. ^ a b Hasdeu, B. P. (1886–1898), Etymologicum Magnum Romaniae: dicționarul limbei istorice și poporane a românilor, 4 vols. (A–Bărbat), București: Socec, p. s.v. acolo
13. ^ a b c d e f DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 8