că

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin quod (“that, because”).^{[2][3][4][5][6][7]} The conjunction survives in all four branches of Romanian: Aromanian cã, Megleno-Romanian că and Istro-Romanian ke.^[3][2][8] The Romance languages have Italian che and French que, Occitan que, Catalan que, Spanish que and Portuguese que.^[3] Pușcariu notes that these may go back to the same Latin word, though DELR compares only Old Italian and the Italian dialects.^[4][2] The Latin word comes from *kʷod.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR dates the conjunction to about 1500, and the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki of the early 16th century already uses it about 400 times.^[2][9] Tiktin's first date is Neacșu's letter of 1521, and MDA2's first record is the Codicele Voronețean.^[10][5]

Semantic evolution

As in Latin, and unlike the other Romance languages, că also introduces causal clauses, “for, because”.^[11] It introduces clauses whose verb is in the indicative: știu că vii “I know that you are coming”, but doresc să vii “I want you to come”.^[10][3] From “that” and “because” it took on consecutive, concessive, temporal and conditional uses.^[5][3]

In popular speech it can mean “and”, it stresses an answer, “indeed” and it is often a mere filler.^[6][3] Old texts and regional speech sometimes write că să for ca să “so that”.^[11] Joined with ce it gave căci “because”, recorded from 1551.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1500 – in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki, the first record.^[2][9]
• 1521 – in Neacșu's letter.^[10]
• 1551 – căci “because”.^[2]
• c. 1563–1583 – in the Codicele Voronețean.^[5]
• 1688 – about 4,900 times in the Bucharest Bible.^[12]
• 1888 – căceși “therefore” in the Apuseni Mountains.^[2]
• 1908 – căz “surely” in Transylvania.^[2]

Meanings

Conjunction

1. that: introduces object, subject and attributive clauses: Știu că ai dreptate. “I know that you are right.”^[6][5]
2. because, for: Mă grăbesc, că e târziu. “I'm hurrying, because it's late.”^[6][5]
3. (consecutive) so that: E atât de obosit, că abia merge. “He is so tired that he can hardly walk.”^[6][5]
4. (concessive) although;^[6][5] (temporal) now that, after.^[6][5]
5. (popular) And.^[6]
6. In phrases: nici că “not at all”, numai că “but, only”, cum că, măcar că.^[6][5]
7. Indeed, that's so, stressing agreement with what was said.^[6][5]
8. Why (not)!, surely: stresses an exclamation.^[6][5]

Word family

• căci

Related words

• Aromanian cã
• Latin quod

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. că
3. ^ a b c d e f 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. că
4. ^ a b Pușcariu, Sextil (1905), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der rumänischen Sprache I: Lateinisches Element, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 21
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 316
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 155
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 6970
8. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 253
9. ^ 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 1:4
10. ^ a b c Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. că
11. ^ a b 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. că
12. ^ Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Facerea 1:4