cheag

Forms

cheag n (plural cheaguri)^[1] An old and regional spelling is chiag, which Ciorănescu uses as his headword.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *clagum (“rennet”), a form with metathesis of Latin quaglum or *caglum, the popular contractions of coāgulum (“rennet, curdled milk”).^{[3][2][4][5][1]} The Latin noun is formed on cōgō (“to gather together”), from con- and agō (“to drive”).^[3][6] Ciorănescu compares the same metathesis in Latin *clagorium, the source of Albanian kljuar, and in Romanian ghimp.^[2]

It survives in Aromanian cljag, and DELR records it in Megleno- and Istro-Romanian as well.^[3][7][8] The Romance cognates come from the form without metathesis: Italian caglio, Occitan calh, Old French cail, Catalan coall, Spanish cuajo and Portuguese coalho.^[2][9] The Romanian word passed to the neighbouring peoples, as in Ukrainian ґляґ (gljag), dialectal klag and dialectal Russian гляк (gljak).^[10][1][11] coagul, borrowed from Latin, is a doublet of it.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to 1633.^[12] The Romanian–Latin glossary of Caransebeș (c. 1650) gives kjag for Latin coagulum “rennet”.^[10][4][3]

Semantic evolution

The first sense is rennet, the ferment that curdles milk, taken from the stomach of a young lamb or calf; by extension the word names that stomach, the fourth chamber of a ruminant's stomach.^[10][4] It was used in folk medicine as well, as rennet of piglet, hare or mouse.^[10] From the curdling of milk it passed to any substance that sets, in particular a blood clot.^[4][3]

A figurative sense, the first savings from which a fortune grows, is recorded in Wallachia;^[4] a prinde cheag “to begin to grow rich” and a lua cheagul cuiva “to ruin someone” go with it.^[12][4] A rarer sense is something that holds a group together, its centre or core.^[3][4] The verb închega “to curdle, to set” is a derivative, and a set of words names the vessels in which rennet is kept: chegar, chegorniță, chegărete.^[3][2]

Timeline

• 1633 – the first record in Tiktin.^[12]
• c. 1650 – kjag “rennet” in the glossary of Caransebeș.^[3][4]
• 1884 – chegar “rennet vessel”.^[3]
• 1885 – chegărete, another name for the rennet vessel.^[3]
• 1888 – chegorniță, a vessel for making and keeping rennet.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. rennet: the enzyme that curdles milk, produced in the stomach lining of young ruminants.^[5][1]
2. The abomasum, the fourth chamber of a ruminant's stomach, from which rennet is taken.^[5][1]
3. Cheag sangvin: a blood clot.^[5][1]
4. (figurative) The first sum on which a larger fortune is built; savings: a prinde cheag “to start getting rich”, a avea cheag “to be well off”.^[5][1]
5. (rare) Something that holds a group together; its centre or core.^[4][3]

Word family

• chegărete
• chegorniță
• închega
• închegător
• închegătură

Related words

• chegar
• coagul
• Aromanian cljag

Usage notes

A separate fishing word cheag (also cheah, teag), a set of three lines or ropes used on the Danube, is a 20th-century borrowing from Russian тяга (tjaga, “pull”).^[3][4][10]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e 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. chiag
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n 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. cheag
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 369
5. ^ a b c d e DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 175
6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ 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. 1, 67
8. ^ Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net), p. 321
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 2006
10. ^ 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. cheag
11. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 263
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. cheag