arici

Forms

arici m (plural arici)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin ēricius (“hedgehog”).^{[2][3][4][5][6][1]} It survives south of the Danube: Aromanian ariciu and Megleno-Romanian ariț.^[3][7][8] Its Romance cognates include Italian riccio, Sardinian rizzu and Spanish erizo;^[3] French hérisson is a derivative of the same word.^[9]

The final ⟨-ci⟩ is a difficulty: from the Latin word the regular outcome would be ⟨ariț⟩, as in Megleno-Romanian, and as in braț, puț or preț.^[3][2] Pușcariu started from a form Vulgar Latin *ēriculus;^[10][11] Philippide and Pascu from *ērix;^[10][11] Pascu also thought of a change of suffix.^{[3][2][10][11]} Sala held that ⟨ci⟩ is the regular result before a stressed ⟨o⟩ or ⟨u⟩, but DELR finds this hard to extend to all cases, and Densusianu explained ⟨ci⟩ from the plural.^[2] DELR calls the problem not yet solved.^[2]

The Latin word is formed on ēr (“hedgehog”),^[2][12] and Wiktionary traces it to Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰḗr (“to bristle”).^[1] From Romanian come Modern Greek ἀρίτζιος (arítzios) and a Ukrainian dialect word, according to Ciorănescu;^[3] According to Wiktionary, Eastern Romance is also the source of Albanian iriq.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR and Tiktin date the word to 1529, as a personal name in a document.^[2][4] MDA2's first Romanian text is the Moldavian law code of 1640, and Tiktin quotes an old law that forbids eating „carne de lup sau de urs sau de vulpe sau de ariciu” “the meat of a wolf, a bear, a fox or a hedgehog”.^[5][4]

Semantic evolution

Shapes and things covered in spikes took the animal's name: the sea urchin (arici-de-mare), plants such as the globe thistle, a tool for scraping crust from channels and an anti-tank barrier of crossed beams.^[6][5][3] In Muntenia arici also names spiked iron rollers for levelling sown land.^[13] Since the 1990s it has been the hook-and-loop fastener on bags and shoes, from the likeness of its fine hooks to the spines.^[14][2]

Ciorănescu also lists the senses “tumour” and “herpes”, and the reflexive verb a se arici means to catch ariceală, a skin disease of horses and cattle in which the hair bristles.^[3][4] In folk legend the hedgehog helped God make the world, and i-a spus ariciul la ureche “the hedgehog whispered in his ear” is said of someone who has a sudden idea.^[4][5]

Timeline

• 1529 – a personal name in a document, the first record.^[2][4]
• 1640 – ariciu in the Moldavian law code.^[5]
• 1660 – arici glosses Slavonic “hedgehog” in a Slavonic–Romanian lexicon.^[15]
• 1682 – the participle aricit of the verb arici in Dosoftei.^[2]
• 1688 – ariciul in the Bucharest Bible.^[16]
• c. 1780 – ariceală, a skin disease of animals.^[2]
• 1801 – Klein's dictionary has aríciu with Latin ericius.^[17]
• 1848 – aricel and aricioaică in Iancu Văcărescu.^[2]
• 1995 – the hook-and-loop fastener, in the press.^[14]

Meanings

Noun

1. hedgehog: a small insectivore with a pointed snout and a body covered with spines (Erinaceus europaeus); arici-de-mare: a sea urchin.^[6][1]
2. A tool for scraping the crust from the walls of channels.^[6]
3. (military) A barrier of stakes or metal beams set crosswise against tanks or infantry.^[6]
4. A hook-and-loop fastener, as on bags and shoes; Velcro.^[14][1]

Word family

• ariceală
• aricel
• aricioaică
• aricitură
• aricioi

Related words

• Aromanian ariciu
• Latin ēricius

Usage notes

DEX has a separate verb arici² “(of animals) to catch ariceală”, used reflexively and formed on the noun;^[6] the DA also gives it the senses “to huddle up like a hedgehog” and “(of hair) to bristle”.^[18] Barbă de arici is a thick, bristly beard.^[5]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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. arici
3. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. arici
4. ^ 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. arici
5. ^ a b c d e f Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 97
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. 61
7. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 140
8. ^ Capidan, Theodor (1935), Meglenoromânii III: Dicționar meglenoromân, București: Academia Română, p. 27
9. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ a b c Pușcariu, Sextil (1905), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der rumänischen Sprache I: Lateinisches Element, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 11
11. ^ a b c 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, 38
12. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
13. ^ Marin, Maria; Mărgărit, Iulia, Glosar dialectal. Muntenia, București: Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti”, p. s.v. arici
14. ^ a b c Dimitrescu, Florica (1997), Dicționar de cuvinte recente, 2nd ed., București: Logos (with the 3rd ed., 2013, in CLRE), p. s.v. arici
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. arici
16. ^ Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Lev 11:5
17. ^ Gáldi, László (ed.) (1944), Samuel Klein: Dictionarium valachico-latinum. Primul dicționar al limbii române, Budapest: Királyi Magyar Pázmány Péter Tudományegyetemi Román Intézet (Klein's dictionary of 1801, with Gáldi's etymological study), p. 305
18. ^ 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. arici