cățel

Forms

cățel m (plural căței)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin catellus (“puppy, little dog”),^{[2][3][4][1][5][6]} a diminutive of catulus (“whelp, young dog”).^[1][7] The word survives south of the Danube: Aromanian cãtsãl and Megleno-Romanian cătsǫl.^[2][8] Its Romance cognates include Italian catello, Catalan cadell and French chiot, which goes back to Old French chael.^[2][6][9] The feminine cățea continues Latin catella in the same way.^[3][5]

The sense “clove of garlic” has two explanations.^[2][3] Pușcariu took it from Latin capitellum (“small head”), and DELR, which gives the garlic sense its own headword, still calls that origin probable.^[2][3] Ciorănescu, the DA and the REW see the same word used of a small offshoot, comparing Italian cacchio (“sterile shoot”) and French caïeu (“bulb”), both from the Latin word for a puppy;^{[2][3][10][6][11]} DEX gives the sense under the one headword.^{[2][3][10][6][11]} Ciorănescu also notes that Hungarian took the word as Hungarian kecel.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin and DELR date the first record to 1453, in a Slavonic charter of the Romanian lands.^[12][3] In Romanian texts the Anonymus Caransebesiensis glossary (c. 1650–1700) renders it with Latin catellus.^[4][10] A psalter of 1651 already uses it for the young of a wild beast: „Spre cățelul leului și a bălaurului vei călca” “thou shalt tread upon the lion's whelp and the dragon”.^[13]

Semantic evolution

The first sense is a young dog.^[11][12] The word then passed to the young of wild animals of the dog kind, such as the wolf and the fox.^[2][12][11] Used of people it became a term of endearment for a small child and, as a figure, a flatterer without scruples.^[4][11] Other transfers name the larva of a bee or another insect and small blisters under the tongue.^[3][12][4] Many technical senses name a small part of a tool or a building: the hole in a scythe handle that holds the blade, the bit of a key, a catch on the loom, a doorpost.^[2][14] The set phrase cu cățel, cu purcel “with puppy and piglet” means with the whole family and all one owns.^[12][11]

Timeline

• 1453 – first record, in a Slavo-Romanian charter.^[12][3]
• 1625 – the feminine cățea.^[3]
• c. 1650–1700 – keczil glossed Latin catellus in the Anonymus Caransebesiensis.^[4][10]
• 1651 – cățelul leului “the lion's whelp” in a psalter.^[13]
• 1688 – cățeii “the little dogs” in the Bucharest Bible, Mark 7:28.^[15]
• 1825 – the diminutive cățelaș and the sense “clove of garlic”.^[3]
• 1870 – cățelandru “half-grown dog”.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A puppy, a young dog; by extension the young of a wild animal of the dog kind.^[11][4][1]
2. (colloquial) A small dog.^[4]
3. (figurative) A flatterer who will do anything to please.^[11][4]
4. (figurative) A pet name for a small child.^[4]
5. The larva of a bee.^[4][12]
6. A clove of garlic, one of the parts of the head.^[11][1]
7. In compounds: cățelul-pământului the mole rat;^[11][4] cățel-de-frasin or cățelul-frasinului the Spanish fly.^[11][4]

Word family

• cățeluș
• cățelaș
• cățelandru
• cățeli
• cățelește
• cățeloi

Related words

• cățea
• câine
• Aromanian cãtsãl
• Latin catellus

Usage notes

DELR lists the garlic sense as a separate headword, cățel², of uncertain origin;^[3][11] DEX keeps both under one word.^[3][11] The plural is căței: Cățeii dormeau lângă sobă.^[11]

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 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. cățel
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n 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. cățel
4. ^ 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, 336
5. ^ a b Pușcariu, Sextil (1905), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der rumänischen Sprache I: Lateinisches Element, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 26
6. ^ a b c d Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 1763
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 284
9. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ a b c d 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. cățel
11. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 161
12. ^ a b c d e f g Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. cățel
13. ^ a b Costinescu, Mariana; Georgescu, Magdalena; Zgraon, Florentina (1987), Dicționarul limbii române literare vechi (1640–1780): termeni regionali, București: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică, p. 1, 95
14. ^ Ștef, Dorin (2021), Dicționar de regionalisme și arhaisme din județul Maramureș, 3rd ed., Baia Mare, p. s.v. cățel
15. ^ Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Mk 7:28