chicoti

Forms

chicoti (third-person singular present chicotește, past participle chicotit), 4th conjugation^[1] MDA2 records the regional variants cicoti, hihoti and hincoti.^[2] DELR adds chihoti, a Bucovina form.^[3]

Etymology

It is formed from Romanian chicot + -i, from the noun for a muffled or bursting laugh.^[3][4][1][5] DEX and Wiktionary derive the noun from Bulgarian кикот (kikot) or Serbo-Croatian kikot, and Wiktionary traces it to Proto-Slavic *kykotъ.^[6][1] Ciorănescu sees in it an expressive creation that matches many Slavic forms, such as Czech chechot and Polish chychot beside the South Slavic nouns, and MDA2 calls the noun onomatopoeic.^[5][2]

DELR gives the derivation from the noun after DA, CADE and Tiktin, and also allows a borrowing of an unattested Slavonic verb, comparing Bulgarian and Serbo-Croatian verbs such as kikotati se and kihotati se.^[3] MDA2 leaves the origin open and compares chiot “whoop”.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR dates the verb to 1780–1801, with the sense “to laugh in a muffled way or mockingly”.^[3] Tiktin's first record is Klein's dictionary, which he dates 1806.^[7] MDA2 cites it only from the glossary to Creangă's works of 1906.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Creangă used a reflexive a se chicoti “to make fun of something”: a woman starts a se chicoti and to tell all sorts of things about the wedding.^[7][8] Lambrior, quoted by Tiktin and Damé, describes women who all talk at once, giggle and burst into loud laughter.^[7][9] Șăineanu marked the verb as Moldavian in 1929.^[10]

MDA2 also records the senses “to whoop”, like chiui, and, by association with hiroti, “to speak softly and slowly”.^[2] The family grew in Romanian: chicoteală “giggling” is recorded from 1915, chicotit as a noun from 1913, and chicăi “to giggle”, from chicoti with a changed ending, from 1929.^[3]

Timeline

• 1704 – the noun chicot in Cantemir's Istoria ieroglifică.^[2]
• 1780–1801 – the verb chicoti “to laugh in a muffled way or mockingly”.^[3]
• 1806 – in Klein's dictionary, as Tiktin dates it.^[7]
• 1913 – the noun chicotit “giggling”.^[3]
• 1915 – chicoteală “giggling, muffled laughter”.^[3]
• 1929 – the variant verb chicăi.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. To giggle or chuckle: to laugh secretly or in muffled bursts, sometimes noisily.^[4][2][1]
2. (regional) To whoop, to shout for joy.^[2]
3. (rare) To speak softly and slowly.^[2]
4. (reflexive, dated) To make fun of something.^[7][8]

Word family

• chicoteală
• chicăi

Related words

• chicot
• chiot

Usage notes

The verb is sometimes followed by de râs: Fetele chicoteau de râs în colț.^[11]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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, 378
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. chicot
4. ^ a b DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 178
5. ^ 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. chicot
6. ^ DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 177
7. ^ a b c d e Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. chicotí
8. ^ a b Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. chicoti
9. ^ Damé, Frédéric (1893–1895), Nouveau dictionnaire roumain-français, 4 vols., Bucarest: Imprimerie de l'État, p. s.v. chicoti
10. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 124
11. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1, 408