ceartă

Forms

ceartă f (plural certuri)^[1]

Etymology

It is a back-formation from Romanian certa (“to scold; to quarrel”).^[2][3][4][1] Graur also counts it as formed in Romanian.^[5] The verb continues Latin certō (“to fight, contend”), a frequentative of cernō (“to sift; to decide”).^[6][3] DELR, after Densusianu, notes that the senses “to scold, to punish” of the verb are found only in Romanian and Albanian.^[6] The verb survives south of the Danube: Aromanian nțertare.^[3]

The noun may be much older than the first texts: the DA thinks it was probably formed already in spoken Latin, and DELR calls it possibly very old, since Albanian qartë has the same meaning.^[7][6] Ciorănescu, after Philippide, also allows that the noun may be older than Romanian, and Tiktin compares the Albanian word too.^[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR dates the noun to about 1500.^[6] Tiktin's first record is the 16th-century Psaltirea Scheiană, Psalm 54:10.^[4] In 1581 Coresi's Evanghelie cu învățătură pairs it with a synonym: „în cearte sau în sfade” “in quarrels or in disputes”.^[7][8]

Semantic evolution

The sense “quarrel, exchange of harsh words” is the core one from the start.^[7] A text of 1654 by Gavril Protul tells how, after Radu's death, the boyars could not agree on a prince: „era gâlceavă și ceartă întru dânșii” “there was strife and quarrel among them”.^[7] The DA notes that the Moldavian law code has sfadă where the Wallachian one has ceartă.^[7]

Old texts also use it for noise, a murmur of discontent, enmity, a rebuke and a punishment.^[7][8] Tiktin quotes the law code Îndreptarea legii for “punishment”: „Canonul acesta arată și feliul bătăii și a cerții” “this canon sets out both the kind of beating and the punishment”.^[4] Of these, only “enmity” survives, as a rare sense.^[2] Klein's dictionary renders it with Latin certāmen and contentiō.^[9] The proverb ceartă fără bătaie n-are haz “a quarrel without a fight is no fun” is recorded by Tiktin and CADE, and the phrase a căuta ceartă cu lumânarea means “to go looking for a quarrel”.^[4][10][8]

Timeline

• c. 1500 – the first record DELR gives.^[6]
• 16th century – the Psaltirea Scheiană, Psalm 54:10.^[4]
• 1581 – „în cearte sau în sfade” in Coresi's Evanghelie cu învățătură.^[8][7]
• 1650 – certătură “quarrel”, from the verb.^[6]
• 1654 – „gâlceavă și ceartă” in Gavril Protul.^[7]
• 1693 – certător “quarrelsome”.^[6]
• 1857 – certăreț “quarrelsome person”.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A quarrel: an exchange of harsh words between two or more people; a row: Cearta dintre vecini a ținut toată seara.^[2][8][1]
2. (rare) discord, enmity, hatred.^[2][8]
3. (obsolete) A rebuke;^[8][4] (old and regional) a punishment.^[8][4]

Word family

• certaș

Related words

• certa
• certăreț
• Latin certō
• Albanian qartë

Usage notes

The plural is certuri;^[2][8][4] MDA2 also has certe, and Tiktin notes certe and cerți especially in Moldavia.^[2][8][4] Cată-ceartă is a person who is always looking for a quarrel, and regionally cearta casei is the plant bugle, Ajuga reptans.^[8]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 166
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. certa
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. ceartă
5. ^ Graur, Alexandru (1980), Cuvinte înrudite, București: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică, p. 55
6. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. certa
7. ^ 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. ceartă
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 351
9. ^ 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
10. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. ceartă