coacin

Forms

coacin m or n (feminine singular coacină, masculine plural coacini, feminine/neuter plural coacine)^[1] In the Banat the word is pronounced coasin.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin coccinus (“scarlet”), a shepherds' colour word applied to sheep.^[3][4][2][5] Wiktionary allows also the longer Latin form coccineus (“scarlet-dyed”).^[1][6] The Latin adjective is from Ancient Greek κόκκινος (kókkinos), from κόκκος (kókkos, “grain, seed; kermes”), the insect-bearing plant from which a scarlet dye was taken.^[4]

The word survives south of the Danube: Aromanian coațin and Megleno-Romanian coațin, said of a sheep or ram with reddish patches on the head.^[3][4][2] The REW names Romansh köcen (“red”), from the Engadine.^[7] Ciorănescu compares Albanian kuatšë (“crimson”), and the REW takes the Albanian and Serbo-Croatian words from the Aromanian one.^[3][7] According to the DA the word also passed from Romanian shepherds into Modern Greek as a name for a white sheep with reddish spots on the face or legs.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is from 1884, a Banat description of sheep that are white but have a yellow muzzle.^[4][2] MDA2 only dates it from the second edition of the DEX (1998).^[5]

Semantic evolution

The Latin sense “scarlet, red” narrowed in Romanian to a colour term of sheep-breeding: a sheep or ram with a yellow, reddish or brownish muzzle or head.^[3][4][2] The adjective is also used as a noun for such a ram or ewe.^[4][5] The word is regional, recorded in the Banat.^[4][8][9]

Timeline

• 1884 – the first record, from the Banat, of sheep with a yellow muzzle.^[4][2]
• 1931 – recorded by the CADE as a Banat word.^[8]
• 1998 – entered in the second edition of the DEX, MDA2's first record.^[5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (regional, of sheep) Having a yellow, reddish or brownish muzzle or head.^[4][5][9][1]

Noun

1. (regional) A ram or ewe with a yellow or red muzzle.^[5][4]

Related words

• Aromanian coațin
• Latin coccinus

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g 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. coacin
3. ^ 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. coacin
4. ^ 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. coacin
5. ^ a b c d e f Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 442
6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 2008
8. ^ a b Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. coacin
9. ^ a b Bulgăr, Gheorghe; Constantinescu-Dobridor, Gheorghe (2002), Dicționar de arhaisme și regionalisme, 2 vols., București: Saeculum Vizual