boci

Forms

boci (third-person singular present bocește, past participle bocit) 4th conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is usually explained as formed from Romanian boace + -i, from the old word for “voice”, as Pușcariu, Tiktin, Candrea and Densusianu, the DA, Scriban and DEX hold.^[2][3][4][5] The REW lists it among the derivatives of Latin vōx (“voice”).^[6]

Ciorănescu prefers Vulgar Latin *vōciō, which he explains as a blend of the Latin word for voice with vāgiō (“to wail, cry”); he compares a *vōceō behind Italian bociare, Galician abujar “to deafen with shouts” and Portuguese bocear.^[7] He doubts the derivation from the Romanian noun because that word was rare and weak, and no corresponding form with /v-/ exists.^[7] DELR notes that the other Romance verbs formed on the Latin word mean “to shout, to call”, so an influence of the verb for wailing on an old Latin derivative cannot be ruled out.^[2]

It has a counterpart in Aromanian butsescu “to lament”, which Papahagi derives from the Aromanian word for voice.^[8] According to Ciorănescu, after Cihac, Serbo-Croatian bočiti se (“to quarrel”) comes from the Romanian verb.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR's first record is in a Hronograf of about 1660.^[2] Tiktin's earliest is Dosoftei in 1683, who writes of Jeremiah going to Babylon „ca un robit bocind robia Ierusalimului” “as a captive, lamenting the captivity of Jerusalem”.^[5][9]

Semantic evolution

In the old texts, mostly Moldavian, it means to lament or wail, intransitively or reflexively: a se boci.^[9] With an object it means to mourn someone, and in particular to sing the funeral laments, the bocete, over a dead person; a family that cannot do so pays a woman of the village to lament for them.^[5][4] Tiktin also notes the extended use of bewailing a misfortune.^[5] The derivatives bocitor and bocitoare “hired mourner” are recorded from the 1690s.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1660 – first record, in a Hronograf.^[2]
• 1683 – Dosoftei: Jeremiah lamenting the captivity of Jerusalem.^[5]
• 1691–1697 – bocitor, bocitoare in Teodor Corbea's dictionary.^[2]
• 1771 – “to mourn” one's father in a manuscript.^[9]
• 1847 – the noun bocit “lamenting” in Heliade-Rădulescu.^[2]
• 1872 – boceală “lamentation” in Baronzi.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. (intransitive and reflexive) To weep loudly, with wails and cries; to lament.^[3][4][1]
2. (transitive) To mourn a dead person by singing the bocete at the funeral.^[3][5]

Word family

• boceală
• bocet
• bocitor
• bocitoare
• bocit

Usage notes

A separate boci from Bihor means “calf” and is the call for calves;^[10] DELR takes it probably from Hungarian boci (“little calf”).^[10][4] Boci is also the plural of boace “voice”.^[11]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. boace
3. ^ a b c DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 110
4. ^ a b c d Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 222
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. boci
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 9459
7. ^ 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. boci
8. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 233
9. ^ a b c Costinescu, Mariana; Georgescu, Magdalena; Zgraon, Florentina (1987), Dicționarul limbii române literare vechi (1640–1780): termeni regionali, București: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică, p. 1, 78
10. ^ a b 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. boci
11. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 219