călări

Forms

călări (third-person singular present călărește, past participle călărit), 4th conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Romanian călare + -i, from the adjective and adverb meaning “on horseback”.^[2][3][4][1] The DA derives it from that word or from its old noun form călariu “horseman”.^[5] Ciorănescu lists it among the derivatives of the adverb.^[6]

The adverb itself is inherited from Late Latin caballāris, from caballus (“horse”);^[6][7][1] Pușcariu, Candrea–Densusianu and the REW derive it instead from caballārius, with a change of declension.^[6][7][1] Its cognates south of the Danube are Aromanian călar, Megleno-Romanian călar and Istro-Romanian călǫr.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Anonymus Caransebesiensis, a Romanian–Latin glossary of the second half of the 17th century, where Keleresk (in Hungarian spelling) translates Latin equito “I ride”.^[5][8][7] The sense was intransitive: to go on horseback.^[5]

Semantic evolution

From “to go on horseback” the verb became transitive, “to ride (a horse)”, with the horse as its object; rarely it also meant to put someone on a horse and let them ride.^[5][4] Figuratively it means to dominate someone and drive them at one's will, and Tiktin records a colloquial sense “to harass”.^[8][9][4]

The participle călărit was used as an adjective “mounted”, after French à cheval, and as a noun “riding”, as in cal de călărit “riding horse” and școală de călărit “riding school”.^[5] Modern slang uses the verb for sexual intercourse, and prison slang for smoking.^[10]

Timeline

• 1651–1700 – Keleresk “I ride” in the Anonymus Caransebesiensis, the first record.^[7][5]
• 1688 – forms of the verb in the Bucharest Bible.^[11]
• 1846 – the noun călărit “riding”.^[7]
• 1851 – călăritură “cavalcade”, a rare derivative.^[7]

Meanings

Verb

1. (intransitive) To ride, to go on horseback or on another animal: Călărea în fiecare dimineață prin pădure.^[2][8]
2. (transitive) To ride a horse, sitting astride it and guiding it; to mount.^[2][8]
3. (figurative) To dominate someone and drive them at one's will.^[8][9]

Word family

• călărit

Related words

• călare
• cal
• călăreț
• încăleca
• Latin caballus

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 156
3. ^ Academia Republicii Populare Romîne (1958), Dicționarul limbii romîne moderne, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1, 124
4. ^ 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. călări
5. ^ a b c d e f 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. călări
6. ^ 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. călare
7. ^ 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. călare
8. ^ 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, 319
9. ^ a b Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1, 356
10. ^ Volceanov, George (2007), Dicționar de argou al limbii române, București: Niculescu, p. s.v. călări
11. ^ Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. 1 Kingdoms 30:17