cătinel

Forms

cătinel^[1] Old texts have cătelin: the Palia de la Orăștie (1581–1582) writes „Cătelin, cătelin voiu goni ei înaintea ta” “little by little I will drive them out before you” (Exodus 23:30).^[2] Other variants are câtinel, cătenel, câtelin, câtilin and the Transylvanian chitinel.^[3][4]

Etymology

The etymology is uncertain.^[3] For the older form cătelin Pușcariu proposed inherited from Vulgar Latin *cautēlīnus (“cautious”) or *cautēlēnus, built on cautēla (“precaution”); the regular outcome would have been reshaped under the influence of lin, and the present form arose by metathesis after încetinel.^[3] The DA, REW and DEX follow him, and MDA2 and DLRM give the same source.^[3][5][6][4] The Latin noun is formed on caveō (“to beware”).^[1]

The other proposals are these.^[3] Spitzer started from a base for “cat”, from cattus, with two diminutive suffixes, “walking softly like a cat”; the REW objected to the double suffix and the lack of palatalisation.^[3][5] Candrea and Densusianu, CADE, Scriban and Papahagi saw câte and the same adjective in a repeated phrase “gently by degrees”, modelled on the phrase for “little by little”.^[3][7] Ciorănescu took it from continuē (“continuously”) or continuō, which should have given a form ending in ⟨-u⟩ (as către comes from contrā), with the suffix -el added on the same model; he thought the sense was “without jolts”, and found Pușcariu's and Spitzer's explanations unlikely.^[8][1] Tiktin only compared cautus (“careful”).^[2]

The word has cognates south of the Danube: Aromanian cãtilin (“little by little”) and Megleno-Romanian cătălin.^[3][9][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is the form cătelinru in the Codicele Voronețean, in Acts 27:7, where it renders the Greek for “sailing slowly”.^[2][3] DELR dates cătenel from 1640, and MDA2's first example is in Varlaam's Cazania of 1643.^[3][4]

Semantic evolution

The adverb means “slowly and carefully”;^[8][6] Ciorănescu stresses that the two ideas go together.^[8][6] Old texts repeat it, cătinel pre cătinel “gradually, little by little”: Neculce says that someone withdrew pre cătinel down the Dniester.^[2][4] It also meant “softly, quietly”, as in Dosoftei's knocking câtinel at a door, and “on tiptoe”.^[2][6] The 17th-century Slavonic–Romanian lexicons use it to gloss Slavonic words for “quietly” and “slowly”.^[11] A feminine adjective cătinică “a little” occurs in folk tales: cătinică vreme “a short while”.^[2][7] Today the word is popular and northern.^[7][3]

Many diminutives were formed: cătineluș and cătinelușel from 1682, cătineluț and cătingan from 1825.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 1563–1583 – cătelinru in the Codicele Voronețean, the first record.^[3][2]
• 1581–1582 – cătelin, cătelin in the Palia de la Orăștie.^[2]
• 1640 – cătenel.^[3]
• 1643 – cătinel in Varlaam's Cazania.^[4]
• 1660 – in a Slavonic–Romanian lexicon.^[11]
• 1682 – the diminutives cătineluș and cătinelușel.^[3]
• 1688 – câtinel in the Bucharest Bible, Acts 26:28.^[12]
• 1825 – cătineluț and cătingan.^[3]

Meanings

Adverb

1. slowly and carefully, gently: Deschise ușa cătinel, ca să nu-l trezească. “She opened the door gently, so as not to wake him.”^[6][4]
2. On tiptoe, quietly.^[6][4]
3. (rare) nel-cătinel: little by little.^[6]
4. (old) cătinel pre cătinel: gradually.^[4][2]

Word family

• cătineluș
• cătinelușel
• cătineluț
• cătingan
• încâtinel

Related words

• încetinel
• Aromanian cãtilin

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. cătinel
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p 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. cătinel
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 335
5. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 1782a
6. ^ a b c d e f g DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 161
7. ^ a b c Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 251
8. ^ a b c 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. cătinel
9. ^ Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net), p. 274
10. ^ Capidan, Theodor (1935), Meglenoromânii III: Dicționar meglenoromân, București: Academia Română, p. 64
11. ^ 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. cătinel
12. ^ Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Acts 26:28