ciucure

Forms

ciucure m (plural ciucuri)^[1]

Etymology

The origin is disputed;^[2] DELR calls it uncertain.^[2]

Cihac, the first edition of Tiktin and the CADE took it from Hungarian csokor or csukor (“bunch, bow, tassel”).^[2][3] Pușcariu and Drăganu argued the reverse, that the Hungarian word came from Romanian, since it spread into Hungarian from Transylvania; the third edition of Tiktin takes this view too.^[3][4] Ciorănescu also rejects the Hungarian source, as the Hungarian word is a dialect loan from Romanian.^[5] Tamás thinks the question hard to settle, since the word is known in both languages from the 17th century, but leans to a Hungarian origin, noting how many Hungarian words Romanian has in the vocabulary of dress.^[3]

Ciorănescu derives it from ciuc “tuft”, through its plural, from which a new singular was made.^[5][2] Wiktionary compares that noun with Albanian çukë and Proto-Slavic *čuka.^[1] The DA started from Latin ciccum (“membrane of the pomegranate”), with a singular rebuilt from the plural, and Pușcariu from a diminutive *cicculum; the DEX and DLRM compare the same form.^[2][6][7] Ciorănescu finds the Latin source unlikely, and Tamás finds both the Latin and an Albanian derivation unconvincing.^[5][3]

Istro-Romanian cicur “cluster of hazelnuts”, recorded only by Glavina, may be a word learnt from Daco-Romanian.^[2][3] Ciorănescu traces Serbo-Croatian čokur (“knot”) to Romanian or Hungarian.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is the personal name Ciucur in a document of 1510.^[4][2] As a common noun it appears in the Anonymus Caransebesiensis, about 1650, as csukură.^[8][3][9] The DA puts first the sense “stalk of a grape cluster”, and MDA2 gives “bunch of grapes” as an old sense.^[9][8]

Semantic evolution

By analogy with a hanging cluster the word came to mean the knotted or bunched threads that edge cloth, garments, carpets and curtains.^[9][8] Tufts of red wool were tied on children or animals, or sewn on young men's buttonholes, against the evil eye.^[9] The word also named the plume on military caps and a bow, and anything that hangs in the same way: an icicle, the glass drops of a chandelier.^[8][6] Several flowers are named after it: ciucurași for the alpine adenostyles, ciucurel for the fuchsia and the balsam, ciucurei for the columbine.^[4][3][2]

Used as an adverb, ciucure means “in a heap, crowded”, and plin ciucure “loaded to the brim”: Creangă has plini ciucur de râie căprească, “covered all over with goat scabies”.^[10][4]

Timeline

• 1510 – the personal name Ciucur.^[4][2]
• c. 1650 – csukură in the Anonymus Caransebesiensis.^[8][3]
• c. 1660 – the plural ciucuri in a Slavonic–Romanian lexicon.^[11]
• 1780 – un ciucur de baston, a walking-stick tassel, in a Brașov inventory.^[3]
• 1825 – ciucurat “tasselled” and ciucuros “with tassels”.^[2]
• 1870 – ciucura “to put tassels on” and ciucurar “tassel maker”.^[2]
• 1871 – the diminutive ciucurel.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A tassel or fringe: an ornament of plaited or bunched threads on the edge of a carpet, curtain or garment; the same as canaf.^[6][8][1]
2. (rare) an icicle; the same as țurțur.^[6][1]
3. (in the plural) the glass or crystal drops hanging from a chandelier.^[6][1]
4. (archaic) a bunch of grapes; the same as ciorchine.^[8][9]

Word family

• ciucura
• ciucurar
• ciucuraș
• ciucurat
• ciucurel
• ciucuri
• ciucuros
• înciucura
• ciucuriu

Related words

• ciuc
• ciorchine
• Hungarian csukor

Usage notes

Plin ciucure de or cu means “loaded to the full with”: Pomul era plin ciucure de mere.^[6][8] Sărăcie cu ciucuri, “poverty with tassels”, is poverty hidden behind a show of elegance.^[8] The variant ciucur is common in the east.^[10][6]

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 k l 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. ciucure
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Tamás, Lajos (1966), Etymologisch-historisches Wörterbuch der ungarischen Elemente im Rumänischen, Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, p. 230
4. ^ 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. ciucure
5. ^ a b c d 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. ciucure
6. ^ a b c d e f g DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 191
7. ^ Academia Republicii Populare Romîne (1958), Dicționarul limbii romîne moderne, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. s.v. ciucure
8. ^ 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, 419
9. ^ 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. ciucure
10. ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 289
11. ^ Ungureanu, Mădălina; Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Moruz, Alexandru (eds.), eRomLex: The First Romanian Bilingual Dictionaries (17th century), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. s.v. ciucuri