chingă

Forms

chingă f (plural chingi)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *clinga, a form with metathesis of Late Latin cingula (“girdle, girth”), the plural of cingulum (“belt”), from cingō (“to gird”).^{[2][3][4][1][5]} DELR compares the metathesis in cheag from *clagum, and Neapolitan chienga.^[2][6] Ciorănescu doubts that the metathesis is older than Romanian, and starts from a regular Romanian ⟨*cinghie⟩, plural ⟨*cinghii⟩, which gave ⟨chingi⟩ by metathesis, with a new singular in ⟨-ă⟩ and cingă by analogy.^[6] DELR objects that this leaves the Aromanian form with /kl/ unexplained.^[2]

South of the Danube the word is Aromanian vingă or vinglă, and Megleno-Romanian cl'ingă.^[6][7] Its Romance cognates include Italian cinghia, French sangle, Catalan singla and Occitan cengla; Albanian kjingëlë is the Albanian loan from the same Latin word.^[6][8][9][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR dates the noun to about 1650, and Tiktin to about 1670, in the Latin–Romanian glossary of Caransebeș.^[2][10][11] The prefixed verb închinga “to girth” is older still, from 1581–1582.^[2] Cantemir already uses the figure of squeezing a bull “in girths” to mean taming it.^[10]

Semantic evolution

The first sense is a broad band woven of wool or hemp, or cut from leather, used to gird, tighten or lift: a man's belt worn over the sash, the girth that holds the saddle on a horse, and the bands used to lower a coffin or to lift an ox for shoeing.^[11][4] The saddle girth gave the phrases a strânge pe cineva în chingi “to keep someone on a tight rein” and a slăbi din chingi “to loosen the reins”.^[10][3] From bands that hold things together the word passed to any crosspiece in joinery or building, and in old land deeds to a long narrow strip of land.^[11][6][12] In Maramureș it is the crossbeam that holds the logs of a raft together.^[13]

Timeline

• 1581–1582 – the verb închinga “to girth”.^[2]
• c. 1650 – first record of chingă.^[2]
• c. 1670 – kingă in the Latin–Romanian glossary of Caransebeș.^[10][11]
• 1857 – închingătură.^[2]
• 1875 – the diminutive chinguliță.^[2]
• 1885 – chingar, the plane used to cut crosspieces, and the diminutive chinguță.^[2]
• 1900 – the verb chinga.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A girth: a broad band of leather, wool or hemp that holds the saddle on a horse.^[3][1]
2. A belt of leather or cloth.^[3][1]
3. A crossbar of wood or metal that holds the parts of an object together and strengthens it.^[3][14]
4. (regional, old) A long, narrow strip of land.^[2][12]

Word family

• chinga
• chingar
• chinguliță
• chingușoară
• chinguță
• deschinga
• închinga
• închingătură
• închingiui

Related words

• cinge
• cingătoare
• Aromanian vingă

Usage notes

A strânge pe cineva în chingi means to force someone, to take them in hand;^[3] a slăbi pe cineva din chingi to give them more freedom;^[3] a-l ține chingile to still feel strong enough.^[3] A pat de chingi is a folding bed whose mattress rests on bands.^[4][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 j k l m 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. chingă
3. ^ a b c d e f g h DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 179
4. ^ a b c Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 382
5. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ 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. chingă
7. ^ Capidan, Theodor (1935), Meglenoromânii III: Dicționar meglenoromân, București: Academia Română, p. 72
8. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Densusianu, Ov. (1907–1914), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române: elementele latine (A–Putea), București, p. 61
9. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
10. ^ 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. chingă
11. ^ 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. chingă
12. ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 270
13. ^ Ștef, Dorin (2021), Dicționar de regionalisme și arhaisme din județul Maramureș, 3rd ed., Baia Mare, p. s.v. chingă
14. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. chingă