carpen

Forms

carpen m (plural carpeni)^[1] Regional variants are carpăn (Moldavia, plural carpeni or carpini), carpân, carpin (Muntenia) and carpene.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin carpinus (“hornbeam”), with a short /i/, as Tiktin notes.^{[3][5][2][6][1]} The Latin word is shared by the Romance languages: Italian carpino and carpine, French charme, Spanish carpe and Portuguese carpe.^[5][7] Its own origin is unclear: de Vaan considers a link with carpō (“to pluck”), since the tree has serrated leaves, and compares Lithuanian skir̃pstas (“elm”).^[8] Wiktionary mentions the traditional derivation from Proto-Indo-European *kh₂er- (“hard”).^[1]

The word survives south of the Danube: Aromanian carpin and Megleno-Romanian carpin.^[5][3][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is the place name Gura Carpenului in a document of 1437.^[3][2] The collective cărpiniș “hornbeam grove” is recorded as a place name even earlier, in 1405.^[3] As a common noun it appears in the Anonymus Caransebesiensis glossary, dated c. 1650–1700, as karpăn.^[4][10]

Semantic evolution

The sense, the hornbeam, has not changed.^[6][5] Its hard white wood is used in building and by wheelwrights, and yokes are made of it.^[10][11] Creangă records the belief that hornbeam lying long in water turns to stone, and that barbers' whetstones are made of it.^[10] Regionally the name also passes to other plants, such as tansy.^[4]

Ciorănescu explains the adjective cărpănos “hardened; coarse; stingy”, recorded from 1881, by the toughness of the wood.^[5][3] The DA and DELR record many derivatives: carpenă “hornbeam fruit” (1883), cărpinar (1891), cărpiniță “Carpinus orientalis” (1843).^[3][10]

Timeline

• 1405 – cărpiniș “hornbeam grove”, as a place name.^[3]
• 1437 – the place name Gura Carpenului, the first record of the word.^[3][2]
• 1588 – cărpinet, another collective, as a place name.^[3]
• c. 1650–1700 – karpăn in the Anonymus Caransebesiensis.^[4][10]
• c. 1660–1670 – carpen in the Slavonic–Romanian lexicon Lex.St.^[12]
• 1843 – cărpiniță “oriental hornbeam”.^[3]
• 1881 – cărpănos “tough; stingy”.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. hornbeam (Carpinus betulus), a tall tree with toothed oval leaves, flowers in catkins and hard white wood, used in building and wheelwrighting: Jugul era făcut din lemn de carpen. “The yoke was made of hornbeam wood.”^[6][1]
2. (regional) tansy (Tanacetum vulgare).^[4]
3. carpen de pietriș (regional) the oriental hornbeam (cărpiniță, Carpinus orientalis).^[4]

Word family

• carpenă
• cărpănos
• cărpinar
• cărpiniș
• cărpiniță

Related words

• Aromanian carpin
• Latin carpinus

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. carpen
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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. carpen
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, 301
5. ^ a b c d e 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. carpen
6. ^ a b c DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 148
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 1715
8. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
9. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 249
10. ^ a b c d e 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. carpen
11. ^ Panțu, Zach. C. (1929), Plantele cunoscute de poporul român. Vocabular botanic cuprinzând numirile române, franceze, germane și științifice, 2nd ed., București: Editura Casei Școalelor, p. 47
12. ^ Ungureanu, Mădălina; Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Moruz, Alexandru (eds.), eRomLex: The First Romanian Bilingual Dictionaries (17th century), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. s.v. carpen