cicatrice

Forms

cicatrice f (plural cicatrice or cicatrici)^[1]

Etymology

It is a learned borrowed from Latin cicātrīx (“scar”), taken from the accusative form in the 19th century, and also from French cicatrice.^[2][3][4][5] Ciorănescu and the DA give only the Latin source.^[2][6] DELR adds French after DEX, which names both.^[3][4] Tiktin compares Italian cicatrice, which the DN names as a third source.^[7][8] The old variant cicatriță was formed after French.^[3][6]

The origin of the Latin noun is unknown.^[9][10] Wiktionary suggests that it may come from a substrate.^[1] French took the word from Latin in 1314.^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin and DELR date the first record to 1816, in a text by Maior, with the sense “scar”.^[7][3] Negulici's glossary of 1848 explains the word as the mark of a wound.^[12] MDA2's first record is Polizu's Romanian–German dictionary of 1857.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The sense has stayed “the mark left by a healed wound”.^[3][4] A figurative sense, the lasting trace of an insult or of suffering, appears in Costinescu's dictionary of 1870 and in later ones.^[13][14][15] Alecsandri wrote of men coming home „înstelați pe frunte cu mândre cicatrice” “starred on the brow with proud scars”.^[6]

The verb cicatriza “to heal over”, from cicatriser, is recorded from 1848.^[3][2] A rarer verb cicatrici occurs from 1862.^[3]

Timeline

• 1816 – the first record, in a text by Maior.^[7][3]
• 1822 – the diminutive cicatriculă, from New Latin.^[3]
• 1848 – in Negulici's glossary of neologisms; the verb cicatriza.^[12][3]
• 1857 – Polizu's dictionary, also with the variant cicatriță.^[5][6]
• 1862 – the verb cicatrici “to heal”.^[3]
• 1939 – cicatrizabil “that can heal over”.^[3]
• 1986 – cicatrizant “healing”.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A scar: a mark of connective tissue left by a wound, cut or burn after it has healed.^[4][5]
2. (figurative) A lasting trace of a misfortune or of moral suffering.^[8][16]

Word family

• cicatricial
• cicatriza
• cicatrizabil
• cicatrizant

Related words

• Latin cicātrīx

Usage notes

The plural is cicatrice or cicatrici.^[4][1]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c 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. cicatrice
3. ^ 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. cicatrice
4. ^ a b c d e DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 182
5. ^ a b c d Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 391
6. ^ a b c d 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. cicatrice
7. ^ 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. cicatrice
8. ^ a b Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România
9. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
10. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
12. ^ a b Negulici, I. D. (1848), Vocabular romînesc de toate vorbele streine întroduse pînă acum în limba romînească și de toate cuvintele ce s-ar mai putea introduce încă, București, p. s.v. cicatrice
13. ^ Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 1, 187
14. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 1, 128
15. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească
16. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional