cândva

Etymology

It is formed from Romanian când (“when”) + va: the second part is the third person singular present of vrea (“to want”).^[2][3][4][5] Wiktionary treats the second part as the indefinite element -va of cineva and ceva.^[1] An old variant lacked the /d/: ⟨cânva⟩.^[2][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR dates the word to about 1500.^[2] Its first record in the psalters is in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki of the early 16th century, at Psalm 113:10.^[6] The Codicele Voronețean has „doară cânvă vor vedea cu ochii” “lest they should ever see with their eyes”, of the future.^[4][3]

Semantic evolution

In the old texts it most often refers to the future, “ever, at some time”, frequently after să nu or ca nu “lest”: Coresi's psalter has „Să nu cândă-va zică limbile” “lest the nations should ever say”.^[4] The DA notes that use for the past, “once, formerly”, is rarer in its quotations; modern dictionaries give both.^[4][5][7] The word is frequent in the psalters of the 16th century and in the Bible of 1688.^[8][9]

Romanian made further compounds on it: altcândva “some other time” (1846) and oarecândva “some time or other” (1825).^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1500-1520 – in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki.^[6][2]
• c. 1563-1583 – cânvă in the Codicele Voronețean.^[4][10]
• 1570 – in Coresi's psalter.^[8]
• 1688 – in the Bucharest Bible.^[9]
• 1825 – oarecândva.^[2]
• 1846 – altcândva.^[2]

Meanings

Adverb

1. At some indefinite moment in the past or the future; once, sometime: Am locuit cândva aici. “I lived here once.”^[5][10][1]
2. (of the future) Ever, at any time: Dacă ai cândva nevoie de ajutor, sună-mă. “If you ever need help, call me.”^[7][4]

Related words

• când
• cândai
• cumva
• vreodată

Usage notes

The DA records a Transylvanian stress on the first syllable, cândva, and a pronunciation cînvă without /d/.^[4]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g 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. când
3. ^ 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. cândva
4. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. cândva
5. ^ a b c DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 162
6. ^ a b 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 113:10
7. ^ a b Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. cândva
8. ^ a b 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 12:4
9. ^ a b Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Mt 4:6
10. ^ a b Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 340