câine

Forms

câine m (plural câini, feminine equivalent cățea)^[1] In Moldavia and Transylvania the usual form is câne, and many writers from those regions kept it.^[2][3] Tiktin quotes it from folk poetry: „Dorul este mare câne” “longing is a great dog”.^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin canis (“dog”).^{[4][2][5][3][1]} The word survives in all four branches: Aromanian câne, Megleno-Romanian cǫini and Istro-Romanian câre.^[4][2] Its Romance cognates include Dalmatian kuon, Italian cane, French chien, Occitan ca, Spanish can and Portuguese cão.^[2][6]

The form with /j/ in the first syllable (as in mâine and pâine) is Wallachian; it became nearly general in the literary language.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is the place name Valea Cânelui “the dog's valley” in a Wallachian charter of 1535.^[3][4] MDA2's first record in a Romanian text is Moxa's chronicle of 1620.^[5]

Semantic evolution

Next to the animal, the word has long served as an insult for a heartless, cruel person, and in the mouths of Muslims a Christian is a câine creștin “Christian dog”.^[3][2] The adjective câinesc, recorded from 1577, meant “cynic” in Cantemir, after Ancient Greek κυνικός (kunikós).^[4] Compounds name a small shark, câine-de-mare, and the constellations Câinele-Mare and Câinele-Mic.^[7] Ciorănescu also records the sense “cooper's bench”.^[2]

Many phrases use the word: viață de câine “a dog's life”, a tăia frunză la câini “to idle about”, and umblă câinii cu covrigi în coadă “dogs go about with pretzels on their tails”, said ironically of great plenty.^[7][5]

Timeline

• 1535 – the place name Valea Cânelui, the first record.^[3][4]
• 1577 – the adjective câinesc “dog's; cruel”.^[4]
• 1620 – câine in Moxa's chronicle.^[5]
• 1620 – the adverb câinește “like a dog, cruelly”.^[4]
• 1660s – câine glossing Slavonic words for “dog” in the Slavonic–Romanian lexicons.^[8]
• 1822 – câinișor “little dog” and câiner “dog keeper”.^[4]
• 1876 – câinos “wicked”.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A dog: the domesticated carnivorous mammal kept for guarding, hunting and other uses (Canis familiaris).^[7][5][1]
2. (figurative) A wicked, cruel person.^[7][2]
3. In compounds: câine-de-mare a small dogfish, and Câinele-Mare and Câinele-Mic the constellations Canis Major and Canis Minor.^[7]

Word family

• câinesc
• câinește
• câinișor
• câiner
• câinos
• câinoșie
• câinime

Related words

• Latin canis

Usage notes

The feminine is a separate word, cățea.^[1] A trăi ca câinele cu pisica “to live like cat and dog” is said of people who quarrel all the time.^[7][5]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. cîine
3. ^ 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. câine
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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. câine
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, 339
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 1592
7. ^ a b c d e f DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 162
8. ^ 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. cîine