călare

Forms

călare (adverb, often used as an adjective; adjectival plural călări)^[2] Used as an adjective it has the plural călări: Ureche writes „Au chemat în leafă Unguri călări și pedestri” “he hired Hungarians, mounted and on foot”.^[3][2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin caballāris (“of horses; horseman”), accusative caballārem, from Latin caballus (“horse”).^{[2][4][3][5][1][6]} Pușcariu, Tiktin and the REW started instead from caballārius (“horseman”), through the old noun călariu “horseman” with a change of declension.^[5][7] DELR gives both explanations.^[4][5][7] Ciorănescu finds the change of declension less likely and doubts ⟨călariu⟩, whose examples are all plurals.^[5] DELR records ⟨călariu⟩ from 1563–1583.^[5][4]

It survives in all four branches: Aromanian cãlar and Aromanian ncãlar, Megleno-Romanian călar and Istro-Romanian călǫr.^[5][4] Its Romance cognates, from ⟨caballārius⟩, include Italian cavaliere, French chevalier and Spanish caballero.^[5] The Latin noun, “horse, workhorse”, is itself a loanword of unclear source; de Vaan compares Ancient Greek καβάλλης (kabállēs, “nag”).^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is the Psaltirea Scheiană.^[7] DELR dates călare from 1643, and MDA2 cites Ureche's chronicle, where it is used of mounted troops.^[4][9][3] The sense was “on horseback, mounted”.^[3]

Semantic evolution

In the old language călare was also a noun, “horseman”: Miron Costin writes „Iară la Vasile-vodă eră 3000 de călări” “and Prince Vasile had 3,000 horsemen”.^[3][9] As an adjective it is opposed to “on foot”: jandarmi călări “mounted gendarmes”.^[7][3] The adverb extends to sitting astride anything, a chair or a branch.^[7][2]

Figurative phrases followed: a fi călare pe situație “to be master of the situation”, nici călare, nici pe jos “neither one way nor the other”, de-a călare “without rest”, and a fi călare “to be drunk”.^[2][9][7] In folk magic the absent lover was made to come flying, călare pe prăjină “astride a pole”, hence “to come breathless”.^[7]

The family is large: călăraș “mounted soldier” (1563–1583), călărește (1620), călăresc (1703), and the verb călări “to ride”.^[4][5] Ciorănescu notes that Turkish borrowed călăraș as a word for “messenger”.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 1573-1578 – călare in the Psaltirea Scheiană.^[7]
• 1563–1583 – călariu “horseman” and călăraș.^[4]
• 1620 – călărește “on horseback”.^[4]
• 1643 – călare.^[4]
• 1660 – călărășesc.^[4]
• 1688 – călare in the Bucharest Bible.^[10]
• 1703 – călăresc.^[4]

Meanings

Adverb

1. On horseback; astride an animal or, by extension, an object.^[2][9][1]

Adjective

1. mounted, riding: soldați călări “mounted soldiers”.^[2][3][1]

Noun

1. (obsolete) A horseman, rider.^[9][3]

Word family

• călăraș
• călărășesc
• călărășie
• călărășime
• călăresc
• călărește
• călăreț
• călări
• călărie
• călărime
• călărit

Related words

• cal
• încăleca
• Latin caballus

Usage notes

Common phrases are de(-a) călare “on horseback; without rest”, nici călare, nici pe jos “neither one way nor the other” and a fi călare pe situație “to be in control of a situation”.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 156
3. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. călare
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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
6. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Densusianu, Ov. (1907–1914), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române: elementele latine (A–Putea), București
7. ^ a b c d e f g h Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. călare
8. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
9. ^ 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, 318
10. ^ Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. 1 Kingdoms 25:20