comoară

Forms

comoară f (plural comori)^[1] Coresi's Tetraevanghel (1560–1561) has the articled plural comoarăle where the Magi open their treasures (Matthew 2:11).^[2] The Psaltirea Scheiană has the variant cămoră: „în cămora sa” “in his lair” (Psalm 16).^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Old Church Slavonic комора (komora, “chamber; treasury”).^[4][5][6][2] MDA2 also names Russian комора (komora), Ukrainian комора (komora), Polish komora and Serbo-Croatian kúmora, and Latin camera.^[7] The Slavic word is an old loan of Common Slavic: DELR derives it from Ancient Greek καμάρα (kamára, “vaulted room”), after Mihăescu, or from Latin camara, after Berneker.^[4] Vasmer prefers the Greek source because of the stress.^[8] Ciorănescu derives the Slavonic sense “public treasury” from комара (komara, “room”).^[5]

Romanian has two later words from the same source: cămară and cameră.^[1][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

MDA2 dates the first record to about 1550, in a text published in Hasdeu's Cuvente den bătrâni.^[7] DELR's first record is Coresi's Tetraevanghel of 1560–1561.^[4] In the 16th-century psalters the word renders the lair of a beast: „ca schimenul” lurking „în cămora sa” in the Psaltirea Scheiană, comoara in Coresi's psalter of 1570 at the same verse.^[3][10]

Semantic evolution

The oldest senses follow the Slavonic “chamber”: “storeroom, granary”, found only in the Bible of 1688 (Joel 1:17), and “hiding place, lair”, which survived in Transylvania into the 18th century.^[3][11][2] In northern Transylvania the word also meant “cemetery”.^[3]

The main sense became “treasure”: money and valuables put away, and especially those buried in the ground and forgotten.^[3][6] Folk belief places flames over a hidden treasure on the eves of great feasts, and holds it guarded by a spirit;^[3][2] cel de pe comoară “the one on the treasure” is the devil.^[3][2] In folk astronomy Comoara lui Iov “Job's treasure” is the star Pollux.^[12][7] Figuratively the word names whatever is most precious, and a dearly loved person.^[6][7]

Timeline

• c. 1550 – the first record, in a text in Hasdeu's Cuvente den bătrâni.^[7]
• 1560–1561 – Coresi's Tetraevanghel.^[4]
• 1570 – comoara in Coresi's psalter (Psalm 16:13).^[10]
• c. 1660–1670 – the first Slavonic–Romanian lexicons gloss it with Slavonic words for “treasure”.^[13]
• 1688 – the Bucharest Bible uses it for “storeroom” and, often, for “treasure”.^[2][14]
• 1931 – the derivative comorâște “place of a buried treasure”.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A treasure: a mass of money or valuables, kept under lock or hidden in the ground.^[6][7][1]
2. wealth, riches.^[6][7]
3. (figurative) A dearly loved or highly valued person.^[6][7]
4. (obsolete) A storeroom;^[7][3] (regional) a hiding place, a lair;^[7][3] (northern Transylvania) a cemetery.^[7][3]
5. (astronomy, folk) Comoara lui Iov: the star Pollux.^[7][12]

Word family

• comorâște

Related words

• cămară
• cameră
• comornic

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. comoară
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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. comoară
4. ^ a b c d e 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. comoară
5. ^ a b 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. comoară
6. ^ a b c d e f DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 211
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 471
8. ^ Vasmer, Max (1964–1973), Ètimologičeskij slovar' russkogo jazyka, transl. and suppl. by O. N. Trubačev, 4 vols., Moskva: Progress, p. 2, 305
9. ^ Gabinschi, Marcu (2001), Dicționar de dublete etimologice ale limbii române, 2nd ed., Chișinău: Litera, p. 74
10. ^ a b Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Ungureanu, Mădălina; Moruz, Alexandru et al., roPsalt: Re-evaluating the Sixteenth Century Romanian Psalters (aligned corpus), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. Ps 16:13
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. ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 322
13. ^ Ungureanu, Mădălina; Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Moruz, Alexandru (eds.), eRomLex: The First Romanian Bilingual Dictionaries (17th century), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. s.v. comoară
14. ^ Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Matthew 6:20