cârnat

Forms

cârnat m (plural cârnați)^[1] The popular variant is cârnaț, the older singular: „Am mâncat colac cu cârnaț” “I ate a ring loaf with sausage” (a carol of about 1820).^[2][3] Oltenia also has the singular cârnate.^[4][5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin carnācius (“of meat”),^{[4][6][3][7][2]} a derivative of carō (“meat”) (old nominative carnis);^[1][2] Ciorănescu, the DLRM and CADE write it as a reconstructed Vulgar Latin *carnāceus.^[8][9][10] The regular outcome was cârnaț; the present singular was rebuilt from the plural ⟨cârnați⟩.^[4][2][1] Tiktin and the Lexicon de la Buda derived it instead from carnātus (“fleshy”), a word of Caelius Aurelianus, which the DA rejects.^[4][5][2]

It survives south of the Danube as Megleno-Romanian cărnat.^[8][4][11] The Romance cognates keep the original sense of meat or flesh: Spanish carnaza, Portuguese carnaz and Occitan carnas.^[8][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is the variant cârnaț in the Anonymus Caransebesiensis, a Romanian–Latin glossary of about 1650, which glosses it with Latin farcimen “sausage”; the same glossary has the diminutive cârnăcior.^[4][6][2] Tiktin dates the glossary to about 1670.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The sense “sausage” has stayed central.^[3] A fresh sausage is cârnaț crud or verde.^[2][6] The long shape gave the colloquial sense “long line” (of people or things), and slang uses the word for the penis.^[3][12][6] Regionally it names the ring of cloth that countrywomen put on their heads to hold the kerchief.^[6] The fairy-tale times when sausages rained down are times of plenty: Tiktin quotes Nu în toate zilele plouă cu cârnați “it doesn't rain sausages every day”.^[5][2] A lungi cârnatul means “to drag things out”.^[2][6]

Romanian passed the word to its neighbours: Serbo-Croatian has krnata, and Bulgarian кърначе (kărnače, “thin sausage”) is the Romanian word with a Bulgarian diminutive suffix.^[8][13] The derivatives cârnățar “sausage maker” (1857) and cârnățel (1927) are later.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 1650 – cârnaț and the diminutive cârnăcior in the Anonymus Caransebesiensis, the first record.^[4][6]
• 1660 – cîrnat in a Slavonic–Romanian lexicon.^[14]
• c. 1820 – cârnaț in a carol.^[2]
• 1857 – cârnățar “sausage maker”.^[4]
• 1927 – the diminutive cârnățel.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A sausage: minced, spiced meat stuffed into a pig's or sheep's gut or a synthetic casing.^[3][6][1]
2. (figurative, colloquial) A long line or string: La ghișeu se formase un cârnat de oameni.^[3][6]
3. (slang) The penis.^[12][1]
4. (regional) A ring of cloth worn on the head by countrywomen to hold the kerchief in place.^[6]

Word family

• cârnăcior
• cârnățar
• cârnățăreasă
• cârnățărie
• cârnățel

Related words

• carne
• Megleno-Romanian cărnat
• Latin carō

Usage notes

The plural is cârnați; the singular cârnaț is popular.^[3]

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 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. cârnaț
3. ^ a b c d e f g DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 164
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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. cârnat
5. ^ a b c d Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. cârnat
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 345
7. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 1701
8. ^ a b c d 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. cârnat
9. ^ Academia Republicii Populare Romîne (1958), Dicționarul limbii romîne moderne, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. s.v. cîrnat
10. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. cîrnat
11. ^ Capidan, Theodor (1935), Meglenoromânii III: Dicționar meglenoromân, București: Academia Română, p. 61
12. ^ a b Volceanov, George (2007), Dicționar de argou al limbii române, București: Niculescu, p. s.v. cârnat
13. ^ Georgiev, Vladimir I. et al. (eds.) (1971–), Bălgarski etimologičen rečnik, Sofija: Izdatelstvo na Bălgarskata akademija na naukite, p. 3, 214
14. ^ 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. cîrnat