cerențel

Forms

cerențel m (plural cerenței)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin cērinthē (“a plant, honeywort”), extended with the diminutive suffix -el, as Densusianu proposed in the journal Romania (volume 33).^[2][3][4][5] Pușcariu, the DA, CADE and Ciorănescu follow him, and DEX gives the Latin word with a “compare”.^[2][3][6] Wiktionary gives the Latin form as cerinthus, a Greek word that the dictionaries of Latin gloss as “bee bread”.^[1][7]

Tiktin left the origin open.^[8] In his view the variant cerițică comes from ceară “wax”, and the plant name was made on that variant.^[3] DELR instead takes the variant (1868) from the plant name by a change of suffix, and Pascu also explained it by a change of suffix.^[2][3] Other variants are cerencel and cernițel.^[2][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is from C. Negruzzi, in 1863, for the mountain avens.^[8] The passage is a list of herbs: „Iată mintă, săbiuță... angelică și cerențel” “here is mint, gladiolus ... angelica and cerențel”.^[9]

Semantic evolution

The name is used for several plants of the rose family with yellow or white flowers: the wood avens, which grows in damp woods and thickets, the water avens, and the mountain avens of the highest limestone peaks.^[2][5][10] Regionally it also names three plants of other kinds.^[5] Panțu records crânceș, cuișoriță and rădichioară as other names of the wood avens.^[10][4]

Timeline

• 1863 – cerențel in C. Negruzzi, the first record.^[8][2]
• 1868 – the related name cerițică “honeywort”.^[2]
• 1872 – the variant cerencel in Baronzi.^[5][4]
• 1929 – Panțu describes the plants in his dictionary of plant names.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. The water avens (Geum rivale), = călțunul-doamnei.^[6][5]
2. The wood avens or herb bennet (Geum urbanum), with golden-yellow flowers.^[5][1][11]
3. (regional) The mountain avens (Dryas octopetala), = argințică.^[5][8][10]
4. (regional) Other plants: Diplotaxis tenuifolia, Geum montanum and Holosteum umbellatum.^[5]

Word family

• cerițică

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g 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. cerențel
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. cerențel
4. ^ a b c 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. cerențel
5. ^ 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, 365
6. ^ a b DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 172
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. cerențel
9. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne
10. ^ a b c d Panțu, Zach. C. (1929), Plantele cunoscute de poporul român. Vocabular botanic cuprinzând numirile române, franceze, germane și științifice, 2nd ed., București: Editura Casei Școalelor
11. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. cerențel