călca

Forms

călca (third-person singular present calcă, past participle călcat, third-person subjunctive calce) 1st conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin calcō (“to tread”), from calx (“heel”).^{[2][3][4][5][1]} DELR calls it pan-Romance.^[2]

It survives south of the Danube: Aromanian calcu and Megleno-Romanian calcu.^[3][6] Its Romance cognates include Italian calcare, Occitan calcar, Spanish calcar, Portuguese calcar and Old French chaucier, whose descendant cocher is said only of a cock treading a hen.^[3][7] Ciorănescu finds that the Romanian senses match those of Spanish pisar closely; he rejects Cihac's view that încurca is the same word.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first records are in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki of the early 16th century: călcară “they trampled”.^[8][9] The Psaltirea Voroneț has calci “you tread” in Psalm 90:13.^[10][11] DELR dates the word to 1573–1583 and MDA2 to Coresi's Carte de învățătură of 1581.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

The basic sense is to put one's foot on something and to walk; from treading came “to crush underfoot” and “to press grapes”, and the figurative “to trample on, oppress, violate” a law or an oath.^[12][4][3] DEX also has “to overrun and plunder a land” and, colloquially, “to drop in on someone unannounced”; slang uses the verb for a burglary or a police raid.^[4][2][13] The derivative încălca “to infringe” is recorded from 1679.^[2]

Ironing, a călca rufe, is pressing with a hot iron;^[8] DELR records călcătoreasă “woman who irons” from 1907.^[2][4] Of birds, the verb means “to mate”, as in cocher.^[3][4] Common idioms include a călca în străchini “to put one's foot in it” and a călca cu dreptul “to start off well”.^[4][5]

Timeline

• c. 1500–1520 – călcară in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki.^[8]
• c. 1551–1558 – calci in the Psaltirea Voroneț.^[10]
• 1570 – călcător “trampler, conqueror” and călcătură “step, invasion”.^[2]
• 1573–1583 – DELR's date for the verb.^[2]
• 1581 – Coresi's Carte de învățătură, MDA2's first record.^[5]
• 1679 – încălca “to infringe, overrun”.^[2]
• 1907 – călcătoreasă “woman who irons”.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. (intransitive) To step or tread on something; to walk.^[4][1]
2. (transitive) To trample or crush underfoot; to run over; to press grapes.^[4][1]
3. (transitive, of male birds) To mate with the female.^[4][3]
4. (intransitive) To go or come somewhere;^[1] (colloquial) to drop in on someone unannounced.^[4][5]
5. (transitive, figurative) To overrun and plunder a land; to break a law, a promise or an obligation.^[4][1]
6. (transitive) To iron clothes or linen: Calcă-ți cămașa înainte să pleci.^[4][1]

Word family

• călcat
• călcare
• călcător
• călcătoreasă
• călcătură
• încălca
• descălca

Related words

• călcâi
• calchia
• Aromanian calcu

Usage notes

A călca apa means “to tread water”, and a-și călca pe inimă “to act against one's own feelings”.^[4] DA names calchia “to trace” as a doublet.^[12]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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. călca
3. ^ a b c d e f g 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. călca
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 156
5. ^ 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
6. ^ Capidan, Theodor (1935), Meglenoromânii III: Dicționar meglenoromân, București: Academia Română, p. 55
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 1491
8. ^ a b c 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 56:4
9. ^ 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 118:51
10. ^ 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 90:13
11. ^ Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. călca
12. ^ 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. călca
13. ^ Volceanov, George (2007), Dicționar de argou al limbii române, București: Niculescu, p. s.v. călca