codobatură

Forms

codobatură f (plural codobaturi)^[1] Regional variants include codăbatură, codobaltură, codrubatură, cotobatură, cotorobatură and cotrobatură.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *codabattula, a compound of Latin cōda, the rustic form of cauda (“tail”), with a form of battuō (“to beat”) and the suffix -ula: “the one that beats its tail”.^{[2][4][5][3][1]} Tiktin reconstructs it as *caudibattula.^[6] Ciorănescu thinks the compound is older than Romanian, since the dialects agree and southern Italy has Sicilian codivattula, the Calabrian form.^[4] Most other Romance languages put the verb first: Italian batticoda and Occitan bateco.^[4][1] Latin glossaries record a similar cauda tremula (“trembling tail”), the model of codatremola.^[2][7]

The word survives south of the Danube: Aromanian coadã-baturã and Megleno-Romanian coadărăbătură.^[4][2][8][9] Its many regional forms show the influence of other words: codobaltură of baltă, codrubatură of codru, cotorobatură of cotor.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is Teodor Corbea's Latin–Romanian dictionary of 1691–1697, where it glosses Latin codatremula.^[2] Tiktin's first date is 1703.^[6] MDA2 cites Șincai's Hronic, of which the 1853 date is the edition.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The name describes the wagtail's habit of moving its long tail up and down whenever it settles or sings.^[7][5] The bird has many other folk names in Romanian, among them bâțâitoare and prundar.^[7][10] By likeness the word also named a bar of the cart that joins the two arms of the front axle and keeps the shaft from dipping.^[2][7]

Simeon Florea Marian's ornithology of 1883 records a family of folk derivatives: codobăturoi for the male bird, codobâță (with bâțâi “to wag”) and the verb codobătura for the mating of the birds.^[2]

Timeline

• 1691–1697 – glossing Latin codatremula in Teodor Corbea's dictionary, the first record.^[2]
• 1703 – Tiktin's first date.^[6]
• 1801 – in Klein's dictionary, with Hungarian barázda-billegető.^[11]
• 1825 – in the Lexicon of Buda, with Latin motacilla and German Bachstelze.^[12]
• 1883 – codobăturoi, codobâță and codobătura in Marian's ornithology.^[2]
• 1894 – the variant codobatică with another suffix.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A wagtail (Motacilla alba): a small grey migratory bird that lives by water and keeps moving its long tail; also prundar.^[5][3][1]
2. (regional) A bar of a căruță joining the two arms of the front axle, which keeps the shaft from tipping down.^[2][7]

Word family

• codobatică
• codobăturoi
• codobâță

Related words

• coadă
• bate
• Aromanian coadã-baturã

Usage notes

Other species are named with adjectives: codobatură galbenă for the yellow wagtail (Motacilla flava), codobatură sură or vânătă for the grey wagtail.^[3]

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. codobatură
3. ^ a b c d e Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 454
4. ^ 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. codobatură
5. ^ a b c DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 202
6. ^ 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. codobatură
7. ^ 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. codobatură
8. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 300
9. ^ Pascu, Giorge (1925), Dictionnaire étymologique macédoroumain, 2 vols. (I: Les éléments latins et romans; II: Les éléments grecs, turcs, slaves, albanais, germaniques, magyars, néologismes, créations immédiates, obscurs), Iași: Cultura Națională, p. 1, 50
10. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 312
11. ^ Gáldi, László (ed.) (1944), Samuel Klein: Dictionarium valachico-latinum. Primul dicționar al limbii române, Budapest: Királyi Magyar Pázmány Péter Tudományegyetemi Román Intézet (Klein's dictionary of 1801, with Gáldi's etymological study), p. 338
12. ^ Lesicon românescu-latinescu-ungurescu-nemțescu quare de mai mulți autori, în cursul a trideci și mai multor ani s-au lucrat (1825), Buda: Typographia Universității (the Lexicon of Buda, ed. Petru Maior et al.), p. 131