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cauc

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Etymology and origin of the Romanian word cauc

cauc1 cap

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
c. 1710 Nicolae Costin's chronicle
Borrowed from
Ottoman Turkish قاوق
Ultimate origin
Ottoman Turkish قاوق

Forms

cauc n (plural cauce)[1]

Etymology

The word for the cap is borrowed from Ottoman Turkish قاوق (kavuk, “tall padded cap”).[2][3][4][5][6][1] The word spread in the Balkans: Ciorănescu and Șăineanu compare Albanian kauk, Serbo-Croatian kauk and Modern Greek καβούκι (kavoúki).[4][6] Nişanyan traces the Turkish word to an Old Turkic diminutive meaning “bladder”, from a word for “bag”.[7]

DELR stresses this word ⟨caúc⟩, against ⟨cáuc⟩ “ladle”.[2][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to about 1710, in Nicolae Costin's chronicle;[5][2] DELR gives about 1712.[5][2] The passage describes the archers (solaci) who marched behind the janissaries, „ce poartă cauce în cap” “who wear cauce on their heads”, of white felt sewn with wire.[9]

Semantic evolution

At first the word named the tall round cap of felt or padded cloth, flat on top, worn by Turkish notables and by the boyars; wound round with a muslin cloth it made the Turkish turban.[9][5][6] Later it was worn by minor boyars and boyars' servants, and an inventory of 1821 lists “two cauce, a black shawl with flowers”.[6][9] As the fashion passed, the word was left to the cap of monks and nuns, the sense DEX now puts first.[9][3]

Timeline

  • c. 1710 – cauce worn by archers, in Nicolae Costin's chronicle.[5][9]
  • 1821 – două cauce “two caps” in an inventory.[6][9]
  • 1857 – caucciu and caucar “maker and seller of cauce”.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The potcap or tall cap worn by monks: Călugărul își îndreptă caucul. “The monk straightened his cap.”[3][1]
  2. (historical) a tall round felt cap, flat on top, worn formerly by Turkish notables and by the boyars, and sometimes by women.[3][9]

Word family

  • caucciu

cauc2 ladle

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
1800 Budai-Deleanu
Inherited from
Latin caucus
Ultimate origin
Latin caucus

Forms

cauc n (plural cauce)[1]

Etymology

The word for the ladle is inherited from Latin caucus (“drinking cup”).[8][4][3][10][1] The Latin word is from Ancient Greek καῦκος (kaûkos, “cup”).[1][11] The REW records Portuguese coco (“tin cup”) in a Portuguese dialect as a Romance cognate, and Candrea and Densusianu compare Albanian kafkë (“skull; drinking vessel”).[12][10][4]

Ciorănescu holds that the commoner căuș is the same word with a different suffix;[4] Philippide and the DA explained that word from cavus (“hollow”), and Cihac from Slavic.[4] From Romanian the word passed into the dialects as Bulgarian кау̀к (kaùk, “large wooden spoon for flour”).[13]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin and DELR date the first record to 1800, the plural cauce in Budai-Deleanu.[14][8] MDA2 gives the Lexicon of Buda (1825), which glosses it with Latin caucus and explains it as a vessel for drinking or drawing water.[15][16]

Semantic evolution

The word names a wooden or metal vessel with a handle, like a large spoon, for drawing drinking water from a pail or tub; foresters carry one tied to their adze.[17][15] A Banat saying, „în tot șofeiul vrei să fie cauc” “you want a ladle in every pail”, is said of someone fussy and lazy.[17] It also names a mason's tool, probably the căuș for mortar.[17][8] It is a regional word of Oltenia, Banat and Transylvania.[18]

Timeline

  • 1800 – the plural cauce in Budai-Deleanu.[14][8]
  • 1825 – caucu in the Lexicon of Buda.[16]
  • 1871 – the diminutive căucel.[8]
  • 1928 – căucuș “large spoon”, a blend with căuș, and caucă.[8]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (dated, regional) a ladle or căuș: a wooden or metal vessel with a handle for taking drinking water from a larger vessel.[3][15]
  2. (regional) the contents of such a vessel.[15]
  3. (masonry) a mason's tool, probably a scoop for mortar.[15][17]

Word family

  • caucă
  • căucel
  • căucuș
  • descăuca

Usage notes

Two minor words share the spelling.[19][4] A Transylvanian adjective cauc “stupid”, recorded from 1899 (DELR: 1906), is perhaps a figurative use of the ladle word; the DA compares năuc.[19][15][20] A noun cauc or căuc “hoe” is given by Polizu and Cihac;[4][17][8] Ciorănescu derives it from Serbo-Croatian kuka, probably blended with the ladle word, and DELR treats it as a variant of the ladle word, perhaps influenced by the Serbo-Croatian word in its sense.[4][17][8]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ 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. cauc²
  3. ^ a b c d e f DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 153
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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. cauc
  5. ^ a b c d e Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. cauc 2
  6. ^ a b c d e Șăineanu, Lazăr (1900), Influența orientală asupra limbei și culturei române, vol. I: Introducerea; vol. II.1: Vorbele populare; vol. II.2: Vorbele istorice, literare, Indice, București: Socec, p. II.1, 96
  7. ^ Nişanyan, Sevan, Nişanyan Sözlük: Çağdaş Türkçenin Etimolojisi (online edition)
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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. cauc¹
  9. ^ a b c d e f g 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. cauc 2
  10. ^ a b Candrea, I.-A.; Densusianu, Ov. (1907–1914), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române: elementele latine (A–Putea), București, p. 294
  11. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  12. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 1773
  13. ^ Georgiev, Vladimir I. et al. (eds.) (1971–), Bălgarski etimologičen rečnik, Sofija: Izdatelstvo na Bălgarskata akademija na naukite, p. 2, 280
  14. ^ 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. cauc 1
  15. ^ 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, 312
  16. ^ a b 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. 107
  17. ^ a b c d e f 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. cauc 1
  18. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. cauc
  19. ^ a b 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. cauc³
  20. ^ Bulgăr, Gheorghe; Constantinescu-Dobridor, Gheorghe (2002), Dicționar de arhaisme și regionalisme, 2 vols., București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. cauc

Related etymologies

  • naiba · also from Ottoman Turkish
  • hai · also from Ottoman Turkish
  • haide · also from Ottoman Turkish
  • rahat · also from Ottoman Turkish
  • cafea · also from Ottoman Turkish
  • cutie · also from Ottoman Turkish
  • puști · also from Ottoman Turkish
  • urmă · also from Greek
Cite this entry

“Cauc.” Etymologically, 11 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/ro/cauc. Accessed 12 Nov. 2026.

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