cadou

Forms

cadou n (plural cadouri)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French cadeau.^{[2][3][4][5][6][1]} The French word first meant an ornamented capital letter and was borrowed in 1416 from Old Occitan capdel (“chief, captain”), from Latin capitellum (“small head”), a diminutive of caput (“head”).^[2][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR's first record is from 1840, in Mihail Kogălniceanu's play Două femei împrotiva unui bărbat.^[2] Tiktin dates it from Pontbriant's dictionary of 1862, which glosses it with French cadeau and présent.^[6][8]

Semantic evolution

The DA labelled it a Gallicism and defined it as a gift given on some occasion, beside the older dar and plocon.^[9] Șăineanu defined it as a small present meant to oblige someone.^[10] The phrase a face cadou “to give as a present” is recorded from Tiktin on.^[6][11] The verb cadorisi “to give presents” is attested from 1892, and the press has cadou-surpriză “surprise present”.^[2][12]

Timeline

• 1416 – French cadeau first recorded, as a decorated capital.^[7]
• 1840 – cadou in Kogălniceanu.^[2]
• 1862 – in Pontbriant's dictionary.^[6][8]
• 1892 – cadorisi “to give presents”.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A present, a gift: something given or received freely;^[4][5][11] a face cadou “to give as a present”.^[4][5][11]

Word family

• cadorisi

Related words

• dar

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f 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. cadou
3. ^ 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. cadou
4. ^ a b c DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 131
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, 273
6. ^ 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. cadou
7. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b Pontbriant, Raoul de (1862), Dictiunaru romano-francesu, Bucuresci: A. Ulrich / Göttingen: Dieterich, p. 97
9. ^ 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. cadou
10. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 1, 89
11. ^ a b c Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1, 311
12. ^ Dimitrescu, Florica (1997), Dicționar de cuvinte recente, 2nd ed., București: Logos (with the 3rd ed., 2013, in CLRE), p. s.v. cadou