cerceta

Forms

cerceta (third-person singular present cercetează, past participle cercetat) 1st conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin circitō (“to go round, to patrol”), kept only in Romanian among the Romance languages.^{[2][3][4][5][6][1][7]} The Latin verb is an iterative of Latin circō (“to go round”) or of circumeō, compare circitor (“one who goes the rounds, a watchman”).^[2][8] That verb is itself formed on circus (“circle”).^[1]

The old variant cercăta is explained in three ways: by the influence of cerca (Tiktin, REW), by analogy with pairs like legăn and legeni (Candrea and Densusianu), or as a blend with căta (the DA, Scriban, Bogrea).^[2][9] Ciorănescu doubts that the form is real.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR dates the verb to 1567, and the noun cercetare and the agent noun cercetător to the Codicele Voronețean (c. 1563–1583).^[2] Tiktin quotes it from the Psaltirea Scheiană, Psalm 64:10.^[8]

Semantic evolution

The DA takes “to keep going round” as the etymological sense: going round a thing to see it from every side led to examining it closely.^[4] In the old language the verb also meant to visit, to look after someone, to put to the test and, rarely, to punish, this last by confusion with certa.^[2] The visiting sense lives on in popular speech: bolnav am fost și m-ați cercetat “I was sick and you visited me” in the Gospel, and newlyweds go to cerceta their wedding sponsor.^[8] The Bucharest Bible of 1688 uses it for seeking the Lord.^[8]

The modern senses of scientific research came with French: cercetare took them from recherche, and cercetător “scientist” follows French chercheur and German Forscher.^[2] cercetaș (1868), first a scout sent to look around, became the equivalent of English boy scout.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1563–1583 – cercetare and cercetător in the Codicele Voronețean.^[2]
• 1567 – the verb, the first record.^[2]
• c. 1573–1578 – in the Psaltirea Scheiană.^[8]
• 1688 – “to seek (the Lord)” in the Bucharest Bible.^[8]
• 1868 – cercetaș “scout”.^[2]
• 1928 – cercetășie “scouting”.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive, also reflexive) To examine closely, to observe, to check; to study, to consult; to search.^[6][5][1]
2. (transitive) To try to find out; to inquire; to spy out.^[6]
3. (transitive) To question;^[6][10] (law) to investigate a case.^[6][10]
4. (transitive, military) To reconnoitre.^[6]
5. (transitive, popular) To visit.^[6][8]

Word family

• cercetare
• cercetaș
• cercetător
• cercetășie
• încerceta
• recerceta

Related words

• cerca
• Latin circō

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. cerceta
3. ^ a b 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. cerceta
4. ^ 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. cerceta
5. ^ a b Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 363
6. ^ 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. 171
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 1943
8. ^ a b c d e f g Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. cerceta
9. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Densusianu, Ov. (1907–1914), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române: elementele latine (A–Putea), București
10. ^ a b Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. cerceta