cercel

Forms

cercel m (plural cercei)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin circellus (“small ring”), a diminutive of circulus (“circle, ring”).^[2][3][4][1] In several Romance languages the Latin word also came to mean “earring”, as in Romanian: DELR names Dalmatian, the dialects of Abruzzo and Sicily, French, Spanish and Portuguese.^[3] Its Romance relatives include Italian cercello, French cerceau (“hoop”), Spanish zarcillo (“earring”) and Portuguese cercilho.^[2][5]

Aromanian has it as tsirtsel.^[6][7][2][3] Hungarian borrowed the word from Romanian as Hungarian csercse, also csercselye, recorded in 1526 with the sense “earring”.^[8][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is the plural cercei in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki of the early 16th century, at Psalm 44:15.^[9] Tiktin dates the word from the Palia de la Orăștie of 1581–1582, at Genesis 24:22, and DELR gives 1582.^[10][3] MDA2's first record is the Bucharest Bible of 1688.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Besides the earring worn by girls and women, the DA and MDA2 record a ring put on small boys to guard them against epilepsy, a metal ring on domestic animals as a mark of ownership, and a woollen ornament for animals.^[11][4] A 1750 document lists „Cercei, 5 părechi” “earrings, 5 pairs”.^[11] The name passed to things shaped like a ring: the iron ring at the lower end of the cart's side prop, through which the axle runs.^[4][12] It also passed to the fleshy wattle hanging from the neck of sheep, goats and pigs.^[13][14] The Hungarian loan had this sense too, from 1583.^[8]

Plant names were formed on the word: cercelul-doamnei and cerceii-babei are regional names for kinds of balsam, and the diminutive cerceluș names the fuchsia and the lily of the valley.^[4][10] DELR dates the derivatives: cerceluș from 1825, cercelar “pedlar of small wares such as thread, needles and cheap earrings” from 1857, cercela and cercelat from 1871.^[3] A proverb says „cerceii mi-au căzut, dar urechile mi-au rămas”, “my earrings have fallen, but my ears are left”, of someone who has lost wealth or rank but does not give up.^[4][13]

Timeline

• c. 1500–1520 – the plural cercei in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki.^[9]
• 1526 – Hungarian csercse “earring”, a loan from Romanian.^[8]
• 1581–1582 – in the Palia de la Orăștie, Genesis 24:22.^[10][3]
• 1649 – cercel in Mardarie's Slavonic–Romanian lexicon.^[15]
• 1688 – cercei and cercel in the Bucharest Bible.^[4][16]
• 1825 – the diminutives cerceluș, cercelaș and cerceluț.^[3]
• 1857 – cercelar “pedlar of small wares”.^[3]
• 1871 – cercela “to adorn with earrings” and cercelat “wearing earrings, curly”.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. An earring: an ornament fixed to or hanging from the ear.^[17][4][1]
2. A metal ring put on domestic animals as a mark of ownership, or a woollen ornament for them.^[4]
3. (regional) An iron ring on the side prop of a cart, through which the axle runs.^[4][12]
4. The fleshy wattle hanging from the neck of sheep, goats or pigs.^[14][13]

Word family

• cercela
• cercelar
• cercelat
• cercelărie
• cerceluș
• încercelat

Usage notes

Cercel la ureche, “an earring on the ear”, is said of something of no importance, kept only for show.^[4][13] Cerceii-doamnei is also an ornamental shrub with arching shoots.^[14]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. cercel
3. ^ 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. cercel
4. ^ 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, 362
5. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 1939
6. ^ Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net), p. 1042
7. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1073
8. ^ a b c Gerstner, Károly (ed.) (2006–), Új magyar etimológiai szótár, Budapest: Nyelvtudományi Kutatóközpont; online at uesz.nytud.hu
9. ^ a b Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Ungureanu, Mădălina; Moruz, Alexandru et al., roPsalt: Re-evaluating the Sixteenth Century Romanian Psalters (aligned corpus), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. Ps 44:15
10. ^ 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. cercel
11. ^ a b 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. cercel
12. ^ a b Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 119
13. ^ a b c d Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. cercel
14. ^ a b c Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. cercel
15. ^ 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. cercel
16. ^ Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Facerea 24:22
17. ^ DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 171