coșmar

Forms

coșmar n (plural coșmaruri)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French cauchemar (“nightmare”), as DER, DELR, MDA2, DEX and the neologism dictionaries agree.^{[2][3][4][5][6]} The DA marks it as a Gallicism and a barbarism of its time.^[7]

The French word, earlier cauchemare and Old French cauquemare, is of Picard origin.^[8][1] Its first part is a form of cauchier (“to press”), a cross between Old French chauchier (“to tread, press”) and the Picard form cauquier, which go back to Latin calcō (“to tread”).^[3][8] Its second part is Old Picard mare, the ghost thought to cause bad dreams, borrowed from Middle Dutch mare;^[3][8] DELR compares the English word nightmare.^[3][8] Marcu and Maneca explain the first part instead as caucher (“to drive out”).^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR's first record is from 1847, in an article by P. Teulescu, with the sense “bad dream”.^[3] Tiktin dates it to 1848 in Costache Negruzzi: „Nu știu cât s-ar fi prelungit coșmarul acesta, dacă o agitație nervoasă nu mă deștepta” “I do not know how long this nightmare would have lasted, had a nervous agitation not woken me”.^[10] MDA2's date of 1872 is that of a Negruzzi edition.^[4]

Semantic evolution

In the 19th century the word was still partly a medical term: Costinescu in 1870 describes it as a feeling of weight and choking in sleep, caused by an overloaded stomach, which stops when one wakes.^[11] Șăineanu and the CADE keep this sense beside “bad dream” and “frightening vision”.^[12][13] The figurative sense, a heavy and obsessive worry, is recorded in the classics and in all the modern dictionaries.^[14][5] DELR dates the adjective coșmaresc “nightmarish” to 1980, in Marin Preda.^[3]

Timeline

• 1847 – first record, “bad dream”, in an article by P. Teulescu.^[3]
• 1848 – coșmarul acesta “this nightmare” in Costache Negruzzi.^[10]
• 1870 – Costinescu defines it as a choking feeling in sleep.^[11]
• 1980 – the adjective coșmaresc in Marin Preda.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A nightmare: a bad dream with a feeling of weight and suffocation.^[5][4][1]
2. A frightening vision; a terrifying obsession.^[4][6]
3. (figurative) A heavy, obsessive worry or thought: Datoriile au devenit coșmarul lui.^[5][15]

Word family

• coșmaresc

Related words

• French cauchemar

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. coșmar
3. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. coșmar
4. ^ 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, 524
5. ^ a b c d DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 242
6. ^ a b Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual
7. ^ 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. coșmar
8. ^ a b c d Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România
10. ^ a b Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. coșmar
11. ^ a b Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 1, 260
12. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 171
13. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. coșmar
14. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1, 561
15. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. coșmar