ceafă

Forms

ceafă f (plural cefe)^[1]

Etymology

Its origin is disputed, but most sources tie it to Albanian.^[2][3] MDA2, the DA, Șăineanu and Wiktionary derive it from Albanian qafë (“neck”).^[4][5][6][1] DELR classes it among the substrate words shared with Albanian, following Pușcariu, Poghirc, Brâncuș and Mihăilă, and the DEX and CADE compare the Albanian word.^[2][7][8] Densusianu explained the Romanian consonant by a Gheg pronunciation, and Scriban notes /tʃ/ at Scutari.^[2][9] Wiktionary adds that the Albanian word is itself of uncertain origin, perhaps related to Ancient Greek κεφαλή (kephalḗ, “head”).^[1]

The word is found south of the Danube and in Istria: Aromanian chiafă and Istro-Romanian ĉåfę.^[3][10][2]

Ciorănescu points to the close match with Ottoman Turkish قفا (kafa), from Arabic قفا (qafā), which also gave the furriers' term cafă; he holds that the Aromanian word comes from the Turkish one, but says Romanian would need an unknown intermediary to explain its consonant, and suggests instead a local formation of Greek origin meaning “big head”.^[3] Russu also took it from Turkish.^[2] DELR rejects a Turkish origin: the Turkish word means “head”, the sounds do not fit, and the word exists in Istro-Romanian.^[2] The Lexicon de la Buda of 1825 had derived it from Latin occiput (“back of the head”).^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR and Tiktin date the first record to 1561, in Coresi's Tetraevanghel (Matthew 18:6): „mai iușor lui i-ar fi să-și spânzure o râșniță a satului de ceafa lui” “it would be easier for him to hang a millstone about his neck”.^[2][12][5] The sense was already the back of the neck.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The word names the back of the neck and, by extension, of the head, in people and animals.^[7][5] Transferred to things, it is the upper part of the yoke that rests on the ox's neck, and parts of a bridle and of a sawmill frame.^[2][5][3] A thick neck stands for wealth and power: gras la ceafă “rich” and gros la ceafă “burly” are in Tiktin.^[12] In butchery it is the smoked or salted pork neck.^[7]

Timeline

• 1561 – ceafa in Coresi's Tetraevanghel, the first record.^[2][12]
• c. 1650–1700 – in the Latin glossary of the Anonymus Caransebesiensis.^[4]
• 1801 – Klein's dictionary glosses it with Latin cervix and occiput.^[13]
• 1825 – the Lexicon de la Buda derives it from Latin.^[11]
• 1939 – the derivative cefar “upper part of the yoke”.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. The nape, the back of the neck; by extension, the back of the head; the cervical region.^[7][4][1]
2. A cut of pork from the neck, smoked or salted.^[7]
3. The upper part of the yoke, which rests on the ox's neck.^[4][2]

Word family

• cefar

Related words

• Aromanian chiafă
• Albanian qafë

Usage notes

Common phrases: când mi-oi vedea ceafa “never”, a face ceafă “to grow fat”, and gros la ceafă “well-fed; rich, influential”.^[7][4]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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. ceafă
3. ^ 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. ceafă
4. ^ a b c d e Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 349
5. ^ 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. ceafă
6. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 1, 115
7. ^ a b c d e f DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1, 165
8. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. ceafă
9. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1, 253
10. ^ 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. 2, 224
11. ^ 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. 108
12. ^ a b c Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. ceafă
13. ^ Gáldi, László (ed.) (1944), Samuel Klein: Dictionarium valachico-latinum. Primul dicționar al limbii române, Budapest: Királyi Magyar Pázmány Péter Tudományegyetemi Román Intézet (Klein's dictionary of 1801, with Gáldi's etymological study), p. 329