căci

Etymology

It is a compound from Romanian că + ce.^{[2][3][4][5][1]} The DA explains it from questions joined to a verb of asking with că: the ce that introduced such a question often meant “why”, and that sense passed to the compound.^[6] Ciorănescu likewise takes the old sense “why” to be closer to the original meaning of the compound.^[3] The final ⟨e⟩ became ⟨i⟩ as in cinci and atunci.^[6]

Pușcariu and Șăineanu derived it from Latin quod + quid, the sources of its two parts.^[7][8] It survives south of the Danube: Aromanian cãtse “why; because” and Megleno-Romanian kǫți.^[9][3] Ciorănescu notes a Wallachian pronunciation with ⟨î⟩, the source in his view of a Bulgarian word meaning “as if”.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR dates the conjunction to 1551;^[2][10] Tiktin's first record is in a Gospel text of 1551–1553, at Matthew 5:34.^[2][10] MDA2's first record is in Gaster's chrestomathy, dated 1550.^[4] In Coresi and the other old texts the form căce often means “why?”: Căce ei se botează pre morți? “why are they baptized for the dead?”.^[6]

Semantic evolution

Old Romanian used the word as an adverb “why?” and as a conjunction “because”, and also for “that” after verbs of saying and accusing: Dosoftei writes that the martyrs were accused căce sunt creștini “of being Christians”.^[10][6] Compound forms pentru căci and căci că were common in the 17th and 18th centuries.^[10][11] The interrogative sense survives only in exclamations of regret, as in Alecsandri's Căci n-am durdă…! “If only I had a gun!”.^[10][12] Today it is a literary conjunction introducing explanatory clauses, “for, because”, while speech prefers că.^[5][1][11]

Timeline

• 1551 – the first record, in a Gospel text (Matthew 5:34).^[2][10]
• 1570 – căce in Coresi's psalter.^[13]
• mid-17th century – căce becomes căci.^[6]
• 1688 – căci in the Bucharest Bible, as in căci ai făcut aceasta? “why have you done this?” (Genesis 3:14).^[14][6]
• 1801 – Klein's dictionary glosses caci “why? for what reason?”.^[15]

Meanings

Conjunction

1. for, because: introduces an explanatory or causal clause;^[5][4][1] Pleacă devreme, căci drumul e lung. “Leave early, for the road is long.”^[5][4][1]
2. (regional, archaic) Why? In exclamations: why ever, if only.^[2][12]

Related words

• că
• ce
• Aromanian cãtse

Usage notes

The word is literary; in speech the same clauses are usually joined with că, fiindcă or pentru că.^[1][11] The old form was căce, at first stressed on the last syllable, as in Coresi's psalter of 1570; the DA dates the change to căci to about the middle of the 17th century.^[13][6] Other old variants are câce and căi.^[4][2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f 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 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. căci
4. ^ a b c d e Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 316
5. ^ a b c d DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 155
6. ^ a b c d e f g 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. căci
7. ^ Pușcariu, Sextil (1905), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der rumänischen Sprache I: Lateinisches Element, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 21
8. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 1, 88
9. ^ Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net), p. 276
10. ^ 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. căci
11. ^ a b c Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 243
12. ^ a b Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. căci
13. ^ 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 86:7
14. ^ Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Gn 3:14
15. ^ Gáldi, László (ed.) (1944), Samuel Klein: Dictionarium valachico-latinum. Primul dicționar al limbii române, Budapest: Királyi Magyar Pázmány Péter Tudományegyetemi Román Intézet (Klein's dictionary of 1801, with Gáldi's etymological study), p. 321