comânji

Forms

comânji (third-person singular present comânjește, past participle comânjit), 4th conjugation^[1] The Lexicon of Buda (1825) has comângi, with comăngesc and the participle comângit.^[2][3]

Etymology

Its origin is uncertain.^[2][3][4] According to Philippide it is inherited from Latin commingō (“to defile with urine”), from con- and mingō (“to urinate”), shaped in form and sense by mânji “to soil”;^{[2][5][6][3][1]} Pușcariu and the REW accepted this, and the DA and DELR give it as possible.^{[2][5][6][3][1]} The forms with an affricate in the Lexicon of Buda support the Latin verb.^[2]

Graur and Mioara Avram see instead a prefixed *pomânji, from Old Church Slavonic помазати (pomazati, “to anoint”), the prefixed form of the Slavonic verb behind the simple verb, with the alternation of po- and co- found in other words;^[2] Moldavian tămânji shows a similar change of prefix.^[2] Ciorănescu takes it as an expressive formation on the simple verb, comparing cofleși and copleși.^[5] The DA objected that Romanian has no productive prefix co-, and that the Moldavian form complicates the picture.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is comângi in the Lexicon of Buda of 1825.^[2][3] MDA2 knows it only from the manuscript of the DA.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The verb means to dirty, to smear and, reflexively, to get dirty or to roll in something;^[3][4] Marian records the senses “to grease” and “to roll about”.^[3][4] It is rare and regional, from Transylvania (the upper Mureș valley, Cluj).^[5][3][1] The noun comânjală “dirt”, and by extension “bad food”, is recorded in 1936.^[2][3]

Timeline

• 1825 – comângi in the Lexicon of Buda, the first record.^[2]
• 1936 – the noun comânjală in the DA.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. (regional, rare) To dirty, soil;^[4][3][1] (reflexive) to get dirty.^[4][3][1]
2. (regional) To smear, grease.^[4][7]
3. (regional) To roll in something;^[4][3] (reflexive) to wallow.^[4][3]

Word family

• comânjală

Related words

• mânji
• tămânji

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, 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. comânji
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n 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. comânji
4. ^ 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, 468
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. comînji
6. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 2085
7. ^ Bulgăr, Gheorghe; Constantinescu-Dobridor, Gheorghe (2002), Dicționar de arhaisme și regionalisme, 2 vols., București: Saeculum Vizual