canapea

Forms

canapea f (plural canapele)^[1] Transylvanian variants are canapeu and canapei (neuter), and Crișana has conopei.^[2][3] Șincai writes „Vodă șezând... pe un canapeiu” “the prince sitting on a sofa”.^[4] In Moldavia canape is also heard.^[5]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Modern Greek καναπές (kanapés) or directly borrowed from French canapé: DELR names both, MDA2 and DEX give the Greek word, and Ciorănescu, CADE and Wiktionary the French one.^{[2][3][6][5][7][1]} Ciorănescu adds Italian canapè and compares Turkish kanape.^[5] Tiktin compares German Kanapee too.^[5][8] The Transylvanian variants canapeu and canapei come from German Kanapee and Hungarian kanapé.^[2]

The Greek word is itself from French.^[9] French canapé is an altered form of Old French conopé (“bed curtain”), from Medieval Latin conopeum (“mosquito net”), from Ancient Greek κωνωπεῖον (kōnōpeîon), a derivative of κώνωψ (kṓnōps, “mosquito”).^[2][10] It survives south of the Danube as well: Aromanian canape.^[11][12]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is a document of 1792, published by Iorga, asking someone to buy two canapele covered in the same pistachio-green cloth.^[2][4][8] It already meant a long upholstered seat on which several people can sit or one can lie.^[4]

Semantic evolution

By extension the word was used for a wooden bench in shops and, in Negruzzi, for a seat of turf.^[4] The diminutive canapeluță is recorded from 1857.^[2] In the 2000s it took on the culinary sense of French canapé, a small slice of bread spread with butter and topped with meat or fish, which Marcu and Maneca call a mistranslation.^[13][14]

Timeline

• 1792 – canapele (plural) in a document published by Iorga, the first record.^[2][3]
• 1857 – the diminutive canapeluță.^[2]
• 1862 – canapea in Pontbriant's dictionary.^[15]
• 2007 – canapele cu creveți “shrimp canapés” in a press quotation.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. A piece of furniture, usually with a back and arms and often upholstered, for sitting or sleeping on; a sofa, couch.^[6][3][1]
2. (cooking) A canapé: a small slice of bread spread with butter and topped with meat, fish or roe.^[14][13]

Word family

• canapeluță

Related words

• Aromanian canape
• French canapé

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. canapea
3. ^ a b c d Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 284
4. ^ a b c d 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. canapea
5. ^ a b c d 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. canapea
6. ^ a b DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 138
7. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. canapea
8. ^ a b Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. canapea
9. ^ Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας, p. 627
10. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. canapé
11. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 243
12. ^ Pascu, Giorge (1925), Dictionnaire étymologique macédoroumain, 2 vols. (I: Les éléments latins et romans; II: Les éléments grecs, turcs, slaves, albanais, germaniques, magyars, néologismes, créations immédiates, obscurs), Iași: Cultura Națională, p. 1, 203
13. ^ a b c Dimitrescu, Florica (1997), Dicționar de cuvinte recente, 2nd ed., București: Logos (with the 3rd ed., 2013, in CLRE), p. s.v. canapea
14. ^ a b Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. canapea
15. ^ Pontbriant, Raoul de (1862), Dictiunaru romano-francesu, Bucuresci: A. Ulrich / Göttingen: Dieterich, p. 103