căpistere

Forms

căpistere f (plural căpisteri)^[1] Variants include căpestere, căpesterie, căpisterie and căpistele; the old form was căpester.^[2][3] A folk song has „Toate căpistelile” “all the troughs”.^[4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin capisterium (“a vessel for cleaning grain”).^{[2][5][6][3][7]} Candrea and Densusianu and Papahagi start from a Latin *capisteria, the neuter plural taken as a feminine, and Wiktionary too takes it as probably passing through that form.^[2][8][1] The Latin word is from Ancient Greek σκαφιστήριον (skaphistḗrion), a vessel in which wheat is cleaned, from σκάφος (skáphos, “hull, hollow”).^[1][9][10]

It survives south of the Danube as Aromanian cãpisteare “flour trough” and Megleno-Romanian căpisteari.^[11][5] Ciorănescu compares Tuscan capistejo.^[5] He calls Țicăloiu's derivation from the plural of căpăstru unlikely.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR dates the word to about 1650, in the old form căpester.^[2] Tiktin's first record is the Latin–Romanian glossary of the Anonymus Caransebesiensis, of about 1670.^[7][8] MDA2 dates it only to 1900, from a folklore collection: „Cum se plămădește mierea în fagure, Pânea în căpistere” “as honey ripens in the comb, bread in the trough”.^[3][4]

Semantic evolution

The word names a small trough in which country people sift flour or maize meal and knead dough.^[6][4][7] DA and Tiktin place it in Muntenia, and it is known in Aromanian as well.^[4][7] The Latin sense, a vessel for cleaning grain, survives in the mill: căpisterile morii are the vessels into which the flour runs from the millstone, and Ciorănescu adds the chute that carries the grain to the stone.^[4][3][5] Phrases are din capul căpisterii “from what little one has” and a vedea alb în căpistere “to see the result first”.^{[4][3][7][12]}

Timeline

• c. 1650 – first record, in the form căpester.^[2]
• c. 1670 – căpester in the Anonymus Caransebesiensis.^[7][8]
• 1900 – căpistere in a folklore collection.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. (regional) A small trough in which flour or maize meal is sifted and dough is kneaded; covată, albie.^[6][3][1]
2. Căpisterile morii: the vessels of a mill into which the flour runs after grinding.^[3][4]
3. Din capul căpisterii: however little one has.^[3][4]

Related words

• Aromanian cãpisteare
• Latin capisterium

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e 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. căpistere
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 326
4. ^ 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. căpistere
5. ^ a b c d e 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. capistere
6. ^ a b c DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 158
7. ^ 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. căpistere
8. ^ a b c Candrea, I.-A.; Densusianu, Ov. (1907–1914), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române: elementele latine (A–Putea), București, p. 42
9. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. σκαφιστήριον
11. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne
12. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 247