cină

Forms

cină f (plural cine)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin cēna (“meal, dinner”).^{[2][3][4][5][6][1]} The word survives in all four branches: Aromanian țină, Megleno-Romanian țină and Istro-Romanian cirę.^[2][3][7] Its Romance cognates include Italian cena, Occitan cena, Spanish cena and Portuguese ceia.^[3][8]

Wiktionary and de Vaan trace it through Proto-Italic to Proto-Indo-European *kert-sna (“portion”).^[1][9] De Vaan connects the reconstruction with a root meaning “to cut”.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR and Tiktin date the first record to 1551–1553, in a Gospel text at Matthew 23:6.^[2][6] MDA2's first record is Coresi's book of homilies of 1581.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The word means the evening meal and the food for it.^[5][4] In the old texts it stood beside ospețe “feasts” and prânzuri “lunches” for festive meals in general.^[6] In church language Cina cea de taină is the Last Supper, and MDA2 records Cina Domnului for the Eucharist and cina mortului for a memorial service.^[5][4]

Regional customs use it too: in the Banat cina ursitelor is a meal laid out on the third night after a birth for the Fates.^[4][6] Folk poetry made the diminutive cinioară a time of day, “supper time”.^[6][2]

Timeline

• 1551–1553 – first recorded, in a Gospel text.^[2][6]
• 1581 – cină in Coresi's book of homilies.^[4]
• 1648 – the verb cina “to have supper”.^[2]
• 1680 – the noun cinat “supping”.^[2]
• 1885 – cinioară “supper time” in folk poetry.^[2]
• 1892 – the diminutive cinișoară.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. supper, dinner: the evening meal; the food prepared for it.^[5][4][1]
2. Cina cea de taină: the Last Supper of Jesus with the apostles.^[5][4]

Word family

• cinioară
• cinișoară
• cinat

Related words

• cina
• Latin cēna

Usage notes

Ciorănescu takes cinioară as a diminutive with -oară, following Graur.^[3] Drăganu and the DA derived it from a Latin phrase meaning “supper hour”, which DELR thinks less likely.^[3][2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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. cină
3. ^ 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. cină
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 397
5. ^ a b c d e DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 184
6. ^ a b c d e f Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. cină
7. ^ Capidan, Theodor (1935), Meglenoromânii III: Dicționar meglenoromân, București: Academia Română, p. 309
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 1806
9. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill