cămară

Forms

cămară f (plural cămări)^[1]

Etymology

It is a borrowing from Greek, though the sources disagree on the exact donor.^[2] Ciorănescu's source is borrowed from Modern Greek κάμαρα (kámara, “room”), which itself comes from Latin camara, and he rules out a direct descent from Latin.^[3][1] DELR calls the etymology uncertain: it lists Byzantine Greek καμάρα (kamára, “room”) (after Cihac, Tiktin, CADE and the REW), Bulgarian камара (kamara) (after the REW), and Vulgar Latin *camara, an eastern Latin form stressed like the Greek word, which DEX calls the probable source.^[2][4] MDA2 gives the Latin word by way of Modern Greek, and Tiktin a Greek or Latin word reaching Romanian through several languages.^[5][6] Gabinschi derives it from Byzantine Greek, perhaps through Old Church Slavonic камара (kamara).^[7]

The Latin word is a variant of the usual form of the noun for a room, closer to its source, Ancient Greek καμάρα (kamárā, “vault, vaulted room”).^[1][8] The word spread from Greek and Latin into the Romance, Germanic, Balkan and Slavic languages, and the DA notes that the Romanian form is closest to Bulgarian and Modern Greek.^[9] Its counterparts south of the Danube are Aromanian cãmarã, which Papahagi takes from Greek, and Megleno-Romanian cămară, which Capidan takes from Bulgarian.^[3][10][11] The same Greek word gave Albanian kamëre and Turkish kemer.^[3][1] Romanian cameră, a later borrowing from Latin, and comoară, which came through Slavic, are doublets of it.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is from 1431.^[6] DELR, which dates the derivative cămăraș to the same year as a personal name, gives 1561 for the noun itself.^[2] In the old texts it means a room or chamber: the Bible of 1688 has „Iară tu când te rogi, întră în cămara ta” “But you, when you pray, go into your room” (Matthew 6:6).^[6][9]

Semantic evolution

The oldest sense is a room in general, and in the plural a set of rooms or a house.^[9] From it came a cabin or a cramped room, as in a ship or a prison, attested in Varlaam and Cantemir.^[9] In the princely courts of Wallachia and Moldavia the word named the prince's apartments and then his own revenues, kept apart from the state treasury; the DA compares the Medieval Latin sense “treasury” of the same word.^[9][4] The cămăraș, the official in charge of these rooms and revenues, has a name formed on Hungarian kamarás.^[2][3]

In towns the word came to mean a small, cool room for storing food, the usual sense today.^[9][4] The DA compares Russian камора (kamora, “storeroom”), Polish komora and Hungarian kamara for this sense.^[9] In the countryside it names different rooms: in Bessarabia the small room with the bed and the stove where a family lives day to day, among the Moți of Transylvania the room for valuables and guests, and elsewhere a room taken up almost entirely by the hearth.^[9][12][6]

Timeline

• 1431 – the first record Tiktin cites; the same year DELR records cămăraș as a personal name.^[6][2]
• 1561 – DELR's first record of the noun.^[2]
• 1611 – cămărășie “the office of the cămăraș”.^[2]
• before 1640 – the diminutive cămăruță.^[2]
• 1649 – Mardarie's Slavonic–Romanian lexicon uses cămară to gloss Slavonic words for a chamber and a storehouse.^[13]
• 1688 – cămara “your room” in the Bucharest Bible (Matthew 6:6).^[14][6]
• 1822 – cămărar “keeper of the rooms”.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A pantry or larder: a small room where food is kept.^[4][5][1]
2. (dated) A room or chamber.^[4][1]
3. (historical) Cămară domnească: the prince's own revenues in medieval Wallachia and Moldavia, from customs, salt mines and indirect taxes, kept apart from the treasury; rarely, the mint.^[4]
4. (regional) A room of a peasant house: in Moldavia the everyday living room with a bed and a stove, in Transylvania an unheated room for valuables and guests.^[5]

Word family

• cămăraș
• cămărășie
• cămărășiță
• cămăruță

Related words

• cameră
• comoară
• Aromanian cãmarã

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 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. cămară
3. ^ 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. cămară
4. ^ a b c d e f DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 157
5. ^ a b c Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 322
6. ^ a b c d e f Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. cămară
7. ^ Gabinschi, Marcu (2001), Dicționar de dublete etimologice ale limbii române, 2nd ed., Chișinău: Litera, p. 74
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ 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. cămară
10. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 242
11. ^ Capidan, Theodor (1935), Meglenoromânii III: Dicționar meglenoromân, București: Academia Română, p. 57
12. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. cămară
13. ^ 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. cămară
14. ^ Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Mt 6:6