comânda

Forms

comânda (third-person singular present comândă, past participle comândat), 1st conjugation^[1] The old texts write cumânda: Coresi's psalter has „cumândară dracilor e nu zeului” “they sacrificed to demons and not to God”.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin commendō (“to entrust, commend”), in its popular form *commandō, remade on mandō (“to entrust”).^{[4][5][6][7][1]} The Latin verb is formed from con- and that verb.^[4] The Romanian senses start from the sense “to commend someone to the gods”, found in Tacitus: to commend the dead to the gods, then to offer a sacrifice, and later to hold the funeral meals and services;^[4][2][8] Candrea and Densusianu and the DA see in it a trace of pagan cult.^[4][2][8]

The word is also Aromanian: Aromanian cumãndu “to give a meal in memory of the dead”.^[9][10][1] The doublet comanda “to command” is a later loan of the same Latin verb through French.^[5][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is the long infinitive cumândare “sacrifice” in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki of the early 16th century.^[4] Tiktin's first date is 1560, in the Apostle of Bratul.^[3] In Coresi's psalter of 1577 it means “to sacrifice”: „sângele fiilor săi și fiicele ce cumândară idolilor” “the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to idols” (Psalm 105:38).^[3][2][7]

Semantic evolution

The old sense “to sacrifice, to offer” is confined to the 16th–18th-century church texts.^[4][2][11] Since then the verb has meant to care for the soul of the dead: to hold the funeral, the alms meals and the memorial services.^[2][4] A Moldavian document of 1635 already has it so: „m-am lăsat să mă grijască și să mă comânde” “I have left [them] to look after me and to commemorate me”.^[2] It is now popular and regional, mostly in Moldavia and Transylvania.^[2][4]

The noun comând, the funeral meal and the things set aside for one's own burial, is recorded from 1624.^[4][5] In Maramureș the verb also means to accompany the dead to the grave.^[12]

Timeline

• c. 1500–1520 – the long infinitive cumândare “sacrifice” in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki, the first record.^[4]
• 1560 – in the Apostle of Bratul.^[3]
• 1566 – cumândătoriu “sacrificing priest” in Coresi, a single record.^[4]
• 1577 – cumândară “they sacrificed” in Coresi's psalter.^[7][2]
• 1624 – the noun comând.^[4]
• 1635 – “to commemorate the dead” in a Moldavian document.^[2]
• 1661 – the verb comândui “to commemorate the dead”.^[4]
• 1831 – comândar in Anton Pann.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. (dated) To hold the comând for someone who has died; to see to the funeral and the memorial meals: Și-au comândat părinții după obicei.^[6][7][1]
2. To see to what is needed for one's own or another's funeral meal.^[6][7]
3. (old) To offer a sacrifice.^[7][2][1]

Word family

• comând
• comândar
• comândă
• comândui
• comândare

Related words

• comanda
• Aromanian cumãndu

Usage notes

MDA2 has a second, regional comânda (also comănda) “to order;^[7] (Transylvania) to recommend”, from Latin commendare and Hungarian komendálni, first recorded in Șincai.^[7]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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. comânda
3. ^ a b c d Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. comânda
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n 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. comânda
5. ^ a b c 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. comînda
6. ^ a b c DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 209
7. ^ 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, 467
8. ^ a b Candrea, I.-A.; Densusianu, Ov. (1907–1914), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române: elementele latine (A–Putea), București, p. 386
9. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 328
10. ^ Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net), p. 350
11. ^ Costinescu, Mariana; Georgescu, Magdalena; Zgraon, Florentina (1987), Dicționarul limbii române literare vechi (1640–1780): termeni regionali, București: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică, p. 1, 112
12. ^ Ștef, Dorin (2011), Dicționar de regionalisme și arhaisme din Maramureș, Baia Mare: Ethnologica, p. s.v. comânda