călugăr

Forms

călugăr m (plural călugări, feminine equivalent călugăriță)^[1] An old plural is călugheri; the first record, of 1407, is the place name Calugherii.^[2][3] In Oltenia the vocative form călugăre is used.^[4][5]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Old Church Slavonic калугеръ (kalugerŭ, “monk”), the Slavonic form of Byzantine Greek καλόγερος (kalógeros), as DELR, the DA, Tiktin, the CADE and DEX give it.^[2][6][5][7] Ciorănescu takes it from Greek, possibly through the Slavonic word, and MDA2 names both.^[8][3][1] Tiktin gives a Medieval Greek variant καλόγερας (kalógeras).^[5]

The Greek word goes back to Ancient Greek καλόγηρος (kalógēros) of the Hellenistic period, formed from καλός (kalós, “good, beautiful”) and γῆρας (gêras, “old age”).^[2][9] It meant “one who has a good old age” and was a term of respect in the 4th century.^[9] From the 5th century it named monks.^[9]

The word is found south of the Danube too: Aromanian cãlugãr and Megleno-Romanian călugăr.^[8][10][11] Capidan takes the Megleno-Romanian word from Bulgarian калугер (kaluger).^[11][12] Serbo-Croatian has kaluđer.^[8][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is the place name Calugherii in a charter of 1407.^[2][5] In a Romanian text the word first appears in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki of the early 16th century, at Psalm 79:14.^[13] MDA2 cites a text of Eustratie from 1632, where John is said to have been a monah, „ce să zice călugăr” “which is to say a călugăr”.^[3][14]

Semantic evolution

The word names a man who has taken monastic vows and lives in a monastery.^[6][14] The Slavonic–Romanian lexicons of the 17th century use it to translate Slavonic инокъ (inokŭ).^[15] Ureche writes of a great council „de călugări” at Florence, and N. Costin of a man tonsured a monk.^[14][5]

Later senses are transferred: a person living a withdrawn and sober life, a folk dance and its tune (in the plural), and a device for draining water from fishponds and reservoirs.^[3][6] Ciorănescu also gives a bed warmer, and prison slang uses the word for a convict serving a long sentence.^[8][16] Plant names are formed on it, such as floarea-călugărului.^[5][17]

Timeline

• 1407 – the place name Calugherii, the first record.^[2][5]
• c. 1500–1520 – călugăr in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki.^[13]
• 1581 – the verb călugări and the noun călugărie.^[2]
• 1591–1600 – călugăriță “nun”.^[2]
• 1597 – the diminutive călugăraș.^[2]
• 1618 – the adjective călugăresc.^[2]
• 1632 – călugăr in a text of Eustratie.^[3]
• 1649 – călugăr in Mardarie's lexicon, for Slavonic инокъ.^[15]
• 1839 – the collective călugărime.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A monk: a man who has vowed to lead a religious, ascetic life in a monastic community; monah.^[6][3][1]
2. (figurative) A person who lives a withdrawn, sober life and avoids company.^[3]
3. A drainage sluice for emptying fishponds, lakes or reservoirs to renew the water.^[6][3]
4. (plural, dated) A folk dance, and the tune it is danced to.^[3][5]
5. (slang) A prisoner serving a long sentence.^[16]

Word family

• călugăraș
• călugărel
• călugăresc
• călugărește
• călugări
• călugărie
• călugărime
• călugărit
• călugăriță
• călugărițesc
• pseudocălugăr

Related words

• Aromanian cãlugãr

Usage notes

The phrase a se ține după cineva ca dracul după călugăr means “to follow someone relentlessly”.^[5][3] The feminine is călugăriță.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f 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. călugăr
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 322
4. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 245
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. călugăr
6. ^ a b c d e DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 157
7. ^ Kurz, Josef; Hauptová, Zoe (eds.) (1958–1997), Slovník jazyka staroslověnského / Lexicon linguae palaeoslovenicae, 4 vols. + supplements, Praha: Academia; digital ed. gorazd.org
8. ^ 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. călugăr
9. ^ a b c Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας, p. 618
10. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 262
11. ^ a b Capidan, Theodor (1935), Meglenoromânii III: Dicționar meglenoromân, București: Academia Română, p. 57
12. ^ Georgiev, Vladimir I. et al. (eds.) (1971–), Bălgarski etimologičen rečnik, Sofija: Izdatelstvo na Bălgarskata akademija na naukite, p. 2, 176
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 79:14
14. ^ a b c 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. călugăr
15. ^ a b Ungureanu, Mădălina; Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Moruz, Alexandru (eds.), eRomLex: The First Romanian Bilingual Dictionaries (17th century), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. s.v. călugăr
16. ^ a b Volceanov, George (2007), Dicționar de argou al limbii române, București: Niculescu, p. s.v. călugăr
17. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. călugăr