cam

Etymology

It is probably inherited from Latin quam (“how, as”), the source of ca as well.^[1][2][3] DELR gives can as the oldest form: Latin final /m/ became /n/ in monosyllables, as in French rien from rem, Italian spene from spem and probably cine from quem, and /n/ later became /m/ again within the phrase.^[1] Tiktin also starts from the Latin adverb, but explains the ending of can and old cani by the particle of cine and mine, with /m/ first before labials and then everywhere.^[4] Cihac read the Latin word in the sense of aliquam (“somewhat”).^[5]

Pușcariu preferred quam magis (“how much more”), the source of old camai and Aromanian cama (“more”), later reduced to cam; he pointed to Istro-Romanian and Banat forms meaning a little that took their -a from camai.^[6][2][7] CADE, DEX and MDA2 derive cam from camai, and Wiktionary finds this the likelier origin.^{[1][8][9][10]} Spitzer compared the parallel use of Modern Greek καν (kan) in words such as κάμποσος (kámposos, “fairly large”), without deciding whether the usage started in Romanian or in Greek.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR dates the word to 1581, in the form can.^[1] Tiktin's first record of cam is a document of 1631, and the Bible of 1688 still has can spre mare “somewhat towards the sea”.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The adverb marks a statement as approximate: cam pe la miezul nopții “towards midnight”, cam ca tine de mare “about as tall as you”.^[4][11] The DA describes it as the speaker's way of saying that a comparison or a date is not exact.^[11] Before an adjective it softens the quality, which Pontbriant in 1862 compared with the French suffix -âtre: cam negru “blackish”.^[12] In modern use it can also mean “rather” or “a little too”: haina e cam lungă “the coat is a bit long”.^[8][9]

The variants can (Maramureș) and old cani (Cantemir) lived on beside it.^[13][4] It is fused in deocamdată “for the moment”, which Cihac analysed as de o cam dată.^[5][13]

Timeline

• 1581 – can, the first record.^[1]
• 1631 – cam in a document.^[4]
• 1688 – can spre mare in the Bucharest Bible.^[4]
• 1825 – the Lexicon de la Buda glosses cam with Latin paululum, aliquanto and circiter.^[14]
• 1862 – Pontbriant compares cam before an adjective with French -âtre.^[12]

Meanings

Adverb

1. approximately, about: a venit cam pe la prânz “he came around noon”.^[8][9][10]
2. somewhat, to some extent: s-au mutat cam pe tăcute “they moved rather quietly”.^[8][15]
3. rather, fairly; a little too: e cam frig “it's rather cold”.^[8][9][10]
4. (before verbs) Almost, all but: cam a uitat “he has more or less forgotten”.^[9][4]

Word family

• deocamdată

Related words

• ca
• camai
• Aromanian cama
• Latin quam

Usage notes

Cam așa means “more or less so”, and in answer to Cum îți merge? it means “so-so”.^[11][4]

References

1. ^ 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. cam
2. ^ 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. cam
3. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 6928
4. ^ 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. cam
5. ^ a b Cihac, A. de (1870), Dictionnaire d'étymologie daco-romane I: Éléments latins comparés avec les autres langues romanes, Frankfurt am Main, p. 37
6. ^ Pușcariu, Sextil (1905), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der rumänischen Sprache I: Lateinisches Element, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 22
7. ^ Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net), p. 230
8. ^ a b c d e DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 136
9. ^ a b c d e Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 281
10. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
11. ^ 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. cam
12. ^ a b Pontbriant, Raoul de (1862), Dictiunaru romano-francesu, Bucuresci: A. Ulrich / Göttingen: Dieterich, p. 102
13. ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1, 221
14. ^ Lesicon românescu-latinescu-ungurescu-nemțescu quare de mai mulți autori, în cursul a trideci și mai multor ani s-au lucrat (1825), Buda: Typographia Universității (the Lexicon of Buda, ed. Petru Maior et al.), p. 568
15. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. cam