carâmb

Forms

carâmb m (plural carâmbi)^[1] The variants are cărâmb, cárâmb and carâng;^[2][3] DELR takes carâng from a dialect plural carânghi.^[2][3] MDA2 records an old plural carâmburi.^[4]

Etymology

Its origin is uncertain.^[2][3] DEX, MDA2, Wiktionary and the DA, following Pușcariu, derive it: it is inherited from Vulgar Latin *calamulus, a diminutive of calamus (“reed, stalk, pole”), which is from Ancient Greek κάλαμος (kálamos).^{[5][4][1][6][2]} The DA takes the basic sense to be “bar, roller”: the rungs of a ladder are cărămi, from the Latin plural, and the side bars of the cart's ladder-like rack, a small ladder, would be its diminutives.^[6] In its account a /b/ grew between /m/ and /l/ as in îmblăti, and the /l/ was lost by dissimilation.^[6] Wiktionary compares Spanish carámbano.^[1]

DELR puts first another view: a substrate word, comparing Thracian καράμβας (karámbas, “shepherd's staff”), a word Hesychius records;^[2][3] Capidan, Poghirc, Russu and Ivănescu held this, and Tiktin also names Capidan's pre-Romance view.^[2][3] Pușcariu later thought it a form of that word.^[2] Other proposals are Latin calopus with an inserted /m/ (Skok), Hungarian karima (Cihac) and a Slavonic source (Weigand, Miklosich).^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is a personal name, Dragoș Carâmbul, in 1497.^[3][2] MDA2 dates the common noun to Ion Ionescu's 1866 description of farming in Dorohoi county, where birch is used for wheel hubs, cart poles and carâmbi.^[4][6]

Semantic evolution

The DA's first group of senses is parts of the cart: the two parallel bars of the side rack into which the rungs are fitted, then the whole side rack, the parts of the cart's frame and the end of the axle.^[6][4] In the north (Bukovina, Maramureș, the Suceava and Rodna mountains) a carâmb is the stick on which shepherds notch the milk yield of each milking.^[6][3] The shaft of a boot is the sense of Muntenia;^[3][7] Moldavia says tureatcă there.^[3][7] Regional senses also include a churning stick and a pen for sheep or cattle at night.^[2][4]

Timeline

• 1497 – the personal name Dragoș Carâmbul, the first record.^[3][2]
• 1866 – carâmbi, bars of the cart, in Ion Ionescu's study of farming in Dorohoi county.^[4]
• 1885 – carămbăț, a part of the cart, at Caransebeș.^[2]
• 1927 – carâmbi “to measure milk with the notched stick” and cărâmbă “milk stick”.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. The shaft of a boot, the upper part covering the calf: Își băgă cuțitul în carâmbul cizmei. “He tucked the knife into the shaft of his boot.”^[5][1]
2. Each of the two parallel bars of a cart's side rack (loitră), into which the rungs are fitted.^[5][6]
3. Each of the two side rails of a ladder.^[5]
4. (regional) a stick on which the milk of a milking is marked with notches.^[4][6]

Related words

• carăm
• tureatcă
• Latin calamus

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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. carâmb
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. carâmb
4. ^ a b c d e f g Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 296
5. ^ a b c d DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 144
6. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. carâmb
7. ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1, 233