căra

Forms

căra (third-person singular present cară, past participle cărat, third-person subjunctive care) 1st conjugation^[1] MDA2 records a regional variant cara.^[2]

Etymology

It is usually explained as inherited from Vulgar Latin *carrō (“to carry by cart”), a verb formed on carrus (“wagon”).^{[3][4][5][2][1]} DELR also records the view of Scriban's dictionary that Romanian formed the verb itself on car “cart”.^[3] The Latin noun was a Gallic word for a kind of wagon.^[6][1]

Ciorănescu doubts the Latin form: the expected verb would be *carriō, which the southern Italian dialects, French charrier and Spanish acarrear continue.^[4] He allows a blend with chalō (“to let down, lower”), the source of Italian calare, which would better explain the sense “to deal out blows”, but notes Sardinian carrare “to cart” in Old Sardinian, which matches the Romanian form.^[4][1] For the slang sense “to clear off” he suggests the influence of Romani kere (“home”).^[4] After Capidan, he takes Bulgarian карам (karam, “to drive”) as a loan from this verb.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin and DELR date the first record to 1563, in Coresi's Apostol (Acts 13:13), where the verb already means “to carry, to take away”.^[7][3] MDA2 gives Dosoftei's lives of the saints (1682–1686) as its first source, and the DA quotes Dosoftei there for Christians carrying the martyrs' bodies into the town.^[2][8]

Semantic evolution

The core sense is carrying loads, at first by cart and then in any way, in large amounts or in many trips: water, wood, sheaves.^[8][7] From “to bring in quantity” came the colloquial sense of dealing out blows: a căra cuiva pumni “to rain punches on someone”.^[5][4] The reflexive first meant to travel by cart and then, colloquially, to make off quickly: a se căra “to clear off”.^[3][5][1]

The family grew from the 17th century: cărăuș “carter” is recorded in 1648 and the verb cărăuși about 1650, cărat in 1683, cărător “porter” in 1688 and cărătură in 1703.^[3] The interjection caro “clear off!” (1872) is the imperative with the pronoun o, perhaps influenced by Romani.^[3]

Timeline

• 1563 – first record, in Coresi's Apostol.^[7][3]
• 1648 – cărăuș “carter” in the Moldavian law code.^[3]
• c. 1650 – cărăuși “to work as a carter”.^[3]
• 1682–1686 – cărară “they carried” in Dosoftei's lives of the saints.^[2][8]
• 1683 – cărat “carting; a carting tax”.^[3]
• 1688 – cărător “porter”.^[3]
• 1703 – cărătură “carting; what is carried” and cărăușie “carting trade”.^[3]
• 1872 – the interjection caro “clear off!”.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To carry or transport something from one place to another, especially in large amounts.^[5][2][1]
2. (transitive, colloquial) To deal out many blows: a căra cuiva pumni “to pummel someone”.^[5][2]
3. (reflexive, rare) To go from one place to another;^[5][3] (regional) to travel by cart.^[5][3]
4. (reflexive, colloquial) To leave quickly and quietly, to clear off: Cară-te de aici! “Get out of here!”.^[5][1]

Word family

• cărat
• cărător
• cărătură
• cărăuș
• cărăuși
• cărăușie
• cărel

Related words

• car
• cărare
• încărca
• Latin carrus

Usage notes

A căra apa cu ciurul “to carry water in a sieve” means to toil for nothing.^[5][2] Tiktin records a căra apă la puț “to carry water to the well” for a pointless errand.^[7]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 328
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o 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. căra
4. ^ a b c d e f 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. căra
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1, 159
6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. carrus
7. ^ a b c d Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. cărá
8. ^ 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. căra