cădea

Forms

cădea (third-person singular present cade, past participle căzut, third-person subjunctive cadă), 2nd conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin cadeō (“to fall”), a second-conjugation form of Latin cadō; the verb is found in nearly every Romance language.^{[2][3][4][1][5]} The Latin verb goes back to Proto-Indo-European *ḱad- (“to fall”).^[1][6]

The verb survives in all four branches: Aromanian cad, Megleno-Romanian cad and Istro-Romanian cadę́.^{[2][3][7][8][4]} Its Romance cognates include Italian cadere, French choir, Occitan cazer, Catalan caure, Spanish caer and Portuguese cair.^[3][5]

DELR explains the impersonal reflexive use meaning “it is fitting” by a Slavic model, comparing the reflexive Middle Bulgarian verb for “to fall”, while Ciorănescu points to the matching sense of accadersi.^[2][3] The sense “to cease to be valid” follows French tomber.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

DÉRom dates the first record to the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki (c. 1500–1510).^[4] DELR and MDA2 give the Codicele Voronețean (c. 1563–1583), where a rope is cut and something is let fall, with the old subjunctive cadză.^[2][9][10] Tiktin's first record is Psalm 9:31 in the Psaltirea Scheiană.^[11]

Semantic evolution

From the physical fall the verb spread early to rain and snow that fall, night that falls, soldiers who fall in battle and cities that fall to the enemy.^[11][12] Later uses include failing an examination and the fall of a government.^[11][12] It also means “to happen to be, to land somewhere”, as in a cădea la învoială “to come to an agreement” and a-i cădea cuiva drag “to take someone's fancy”.^[12]

The impersonal reflexive se cade “it is right, it is fitting” is old: DELR dates cumsecade “decent”, from cum se cade “as is fitting”, to 1581, and cădință “propriety” to 1682.^[2] Other derivatives recorded early are căzătură “fall, misfortune” in 1561 and cădere “fall” in 1581.^[2] decădea “to decline” was formed in 1836 after French déchoir.^[2] In thieves' slang the verb means “to be arrested”.^[13]

Timeline

• c. 1500–1510 – first record, in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki.^[4]
• 1561 – căzătură “fall, misfortune”.^[2]
• c. 1563–1583 – cadză in the Codicele Voronețean.^[9][10]
• 1581 – cădere “fall” and cumsecade “decent”.^[2]
• 1682 – cădință “propriety”.^[2]
• 1704 – căzător “falling, perishable”.^[2]
• 1836 – decădea “to decline”.^[2]
• 1872 – bună-cădere “good manners”.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To fall: to move downwards under one's own weight; of winter, frost or evening, to come on; of mountain streams, to rush down.^[12][9]
2. Of teeth, hair or leaves, to come off, to fall out.^[12][9]
3. To hang down; to topple over, to collapse;^[12][9] a cădea la pat “to fall ill and take to one's bed”.^[12][9]
4. To fall on one's knees before someone; to beg humbly.^[12][9]
5. (figurative) To die in battle; of a city or position, to be taken by the enemy.^[12][9]
6. (figurative) To fail, for instance an examination; of a government or a law, to come to an end.^[12]
7. To end up somewhere by chance;^[12] a-i cădea cuiva drag “to take someone's fancy”; to be situated: Moara cade chiar lângă râu. “The mill lies right by the river.”^[12]
8. In a cădea la învoială or de acord: to come to an agreement.^[12]
9. (reflexive, impersonal) To be due to someone; to be fitting or proper: Nu se cade să vorbești așa. “It is not proper to speak like that.”^[12][2]
10. (slang) To be arrested.^[13]

Word family

• cădere
• cădenie
• cădință
• căzământ
• căzător
• căzătură
• căzut
• cumsecade
• cumsecădenie
• decădea
• decăzut
• necădință
• paracăzător
• precădea

Related words

• scădea
• șansă
• Aromanian cad
• Latin cadō

Usage notes

In the present subjunctive the regular să cadă alternates with the analogical să cază, and the first person with caz in old texts.^[3][9]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o 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. cădea
3. ^ a b c d e 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. cădea
4. ^ a b c d Buchi, Éva; Schweickard, Wolfgang, eds. (2008–), Dictionnaire Étymologique Roman (DÉRom), Nancy: ATILF, http://www.atilf.fr/DERom
5. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 1451
6. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
7. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 236
8. ^ Capidan, Theodor (1935), Meglenoromânii III: Dicționar meglenoromân, București: Academia Română, p. 53
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 317
10. ^ 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. cădea
11. ^ 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. cădea
12. ^ 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. 155
13. ^ a b Volceanov, George (2007), Dicționar de argou al limbii române, București: Niculescu, p. s.v. cădea