ceață

Forms

ceață f (plural cețuri)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin caecia (“dimness of the eyes”), a Late Latin noun recorded in the glosses, derived from caecus (“blind”).^[2][3][4][1] The Latin adjective goes back to Proto-Indo-European *kéh₂ikos (“one-eyed”).^[1][5] The link with the Latin adjective was already seen by the authors of the Lexicon of Buda (1825).^[3][6]

Northern Italian dialects made words for fog from the same Latin adjective, which DELR cites for the shift of meaning: Piedmontese cea, Lombard scighera and Romansh tschiera.^[2][1][7]

Cihac derived the word instead from a Slavonic diminutive of Old Church Slavonic чадъ (čadŭ, “smoke, fumes”), and Weigand followed him with a Bulgarian source;^[3][2] Ciorănescu thinks this unlikely.^[3][2] Scriban still held to the Slavic origin and rejected the Latin one.^[8] Tiktin gives both explanations.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin and DELR date the first record to 1640, in a Ceaslov (book of hours).^[9][2] Mardarie's Slavonic–Romanian lexicon has the word in 1649.^[10] MDA2's first record is later, in Dosoftei's lives of the saints (1682–1686).^[11] DELR gives two old senses: fog, and an eye disease, the beginning of a cataract.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The Latin word named a dimness of the eyes, and Romanian kept that sense for a long time: old and regional texts use ceață for an eye disease that clouds the sight.^[2][11] The Lexicon of Buda (1825) still gives both meanings, fog and a film over the eyes.^[6] Fog is something that keeps one from seeing clearly, and this became the main sense.^[3][4]

The word also names other thin veils: the vapour that settles on glass brought in from the cold, a ring of vapour round the moon, and the fine bloom on plums and grapes.^[11][3][4] Figurative uses name a clouded judgement or memory and sadness, and a avea ceață în creieri “to have fog in the brain” means to be drunk.^[11]

Timeline

• 1640 – ceață in a Ceaslov, the first record.^[2][9]
• 1649 – the word in Mardarie's Slavonic–Romanian lexicon.^[10]
• 1682–1686 – Dosoftei's lives of the saints, MDA2's first record.^[11]
• 1688 – ten occurrences in the Bucharest Bible, among them Exodus 10:22.^[12]
• 1691–1697 – cețos “foggy”.^[2]
• 1825 – the Lexicon of Buda gives “fog” and “a film over the eyes” and derives the word from Latin.^[6]
• 1839 – cețui “to steam up”, used once by Negruzzi.^[2]
• 1900 – încețoșa “to cover with fog; to blur”.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. fog, mist: fine drops of water suspended in the air near the ground, which make it hard to see; negură, pâclă.^[4][1]
2. Vapour condensed on a pane of glass or another smooth surface.^[4][11]
3. (figurative) A clouding of judgement or memory.^[11]
4. A fine bloom on some fresh fruit, such as plums and grapes.^[3][11]
5. (archaic, regional) An eye disease that dims the sight, the beginning of a cataract.^[11][2]

Word family

• cețos
• cețoșa
• înceța
• încețoșa

Usage notes

The plural is cețuri;^[4][9][8] Tiktin and Scriban give ceți.^[4][9][8] A vedea ca prin ceață means to see unclearly.^[13]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. ceață
3. ^ a b c d e f g 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. ceață
4. ^ a b c d e f g DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 167
5. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
6. ^ a b c 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. 108
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 1467
8. ^ a b c Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 255
9. ^ 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. ceață
10. ^ a b 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. ceață
11. ^ a b c d e f g h i Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 352
12. ^ Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Ex 10:22
13. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. ceață