cal

Forms

cal m (plural cai)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin caballus (“horse, workhorse”), the popular word that replaced classical equus.^{[2][3][4][5][6][1]} The Latin word was first a workhorse or gelding, and is recorded from Lucilius on.^[7]

The noun survives in all four branches: Aromanian cal, Megleno-Romanian cal and Istro-Romanian cå.^{[2][3][8][9][10]} Its Romance cognates include Italian cavallo, French cheval, Occitan caval, Catalan cavall, Spanish caballo and Portuguese cavalo.^[3][11] Albanian kalë is a loan from Latin.^[12][1]

The origin of the Latin word is disputed.^[3][7] Greek has Ancient Greek καβάλλης (kabállēs, “nag”), and a related word for a workhorse appears in a 3rd-century BC inscription from Callatis.^[7][3] Ciorănescu reports Meillet's view of a source in the steppes of the Balkans and Scythia, and newer studies (Cocco, Grégoire) that make it a Latin word based on cabō (“gelding”).^[3] De Vaan holds it to be a loanword, perhaps from Asia, and Wiktionary also names a Gaulish or Iranian source.^[7][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki of about 1500, which has calul, cai and cailor.^[2][13] Tiktin cites the Psaltirea Scheiană of the 16th century, MDA2 the Codicele Voronețean of about 1563–1583.^[14][4] The sense is the animal.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Besides the animal in general, cal can mean a gelding, as against armăsar “stallion” and iapă “mare”.^[4][14] Things that carry or support were named after the horse: the vaulting horse of gymnastics, the knight in chess, the two beams that hold the hopper of a mill, a carpenter's trestle.^[3][14] Cal-putere is horsepower.^[15] Calul dracului “the devil's horse” is a dragonfly and a wicked old woman.^[15][14] Ciorănescu compares Spanish caballito del diablo and a Greek phrase.^[3] Regional speech uses cal for a roof beam and for the sheaf set on top of a stack.^[16] In slang it means a tall man, a cigarette or heroin.^[17]

Romanian made many derivatives: căluț and căloi are recorded from about 1650, căluș and călușel from 1588.^[2] Căluș is also a folk dance, whose dancers are the călușari.^[3][2] Bulgarian borrowed the word as kalušar.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 1500 – calul, cai in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki, the first record.^[2][13]
• c. 1563–1583 – cal in the Codicele Voronețean.^[4]
• 1588 – the diminutives căluș and călușel.^[2]
• c. 1650 – căluț and căloi “big horse”.^[2]
• 1688 – cal, cai throughout the Bucharest Bible.^[18]
• 1716 – călușan “căluș dancer”.^[2]
• 1825 – călușar and căiesc “of horses”.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. horse: the domestic herbivore with an undivided hoof, used for riding and draught (Equus caballus). Specifically, a gelding.^[15][4][1]
2. (gymnastics) A vaulting horse.^[3][14]
3. (chess) The knight.^[14][1]
4. Cal-putere: horsepower, a unit of power.^[15]
5. Calul dracului: a dragonfly, and figuratively a wicked old woman, a witch.^[15][14]
6. (technical) A support or trestle, such as the beams that carry the hopper of a mill.^[3][14]

Word family

• căluț
• căloi
• căluș
• călușel
• călușar
• călușei
• căiesc

Related words

• călare
• încăleca
• Aromanian cal
• Latin caballus

Usage notes

The plural is cai.^[4] Common phrases include cai verzi pe pereți “green horses on the walls”, impossible tales, la Paștele cailor “at the horses' Easter”, never, and cal de bătaie “a whipping horse”, someone everybody harasses or an issue that keeps coming back.^[15] A proverb says Calul de dar nu se caută la dinți “don't look a gift horse in the teeth”.^[15]

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 j k 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. cal
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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. cal
4. ^ a b c d e f Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 275
5. ^ Pușcariu, Sextil (1905), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der rumänischen Sprache I: Lateinisches Element, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 22
6. ^ 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. cal
7. ^ a b c d de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
8. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 238
9. ^ Capidan, Theodor (1935), Meglenoromânii III: Dicționar meglenoromân, București: Academia Română, p. 55
10. ^ Byhan, Arthur (1899), Istrorumänisches Glossar, Sechster Jahresbericht des Instituts für rumänische Sprache zu Leipzig: 174–366, p. 250
11. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 1440
12. ^ Demiraj, Bardhyl (ed.), Digitales philologisch-etymologisches Wörterbuch des Albanischen, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München
13. ^ a b Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Ungureanu, Mădălina; Moruz, Alexandru et al., roPsalt: Re-evaluating the Sixteenth Century Romanian Psalters (aligned corpus), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. Ps 32:17
14. ^ a b c d e f g h Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. cal
15. ^ 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. 132
16. ^ Marin, Maria; Mărgărit, Iulia, Glosar dialectal. Muntenia, București: Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti”
17. ^ Volceanov, George (2007), Dicționar de argou al limbii române, București: Niculescu
18. ^ Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Facerea 47:17