copilaș

Forms

copilaș m (plural copilași)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Romanian copil + -aș, with the diminutive suffix.^[2][3][4][1] South of the Danube the same diminutive is Megleno-Romanian cupilaș, meaning “child” and “young man old enough to marry”.^[5][6][1]

The base word is of unknown origin; it corresponds to Aromanian cochil “bastard”, and it spread from Romanian into the other Balkan languages.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR's first record is Udriște Năsturel's translation of Varlaam and Ioasaf (1648), with the sense “little child”.^[4] A Slavonic–Romanian lexicon of about 1660–1670 gives copilaș as the equivalent of Old Church Slavonic дѣтище (dětište).^[7] MDA2 dates it from the Bible of 1688, where its forms occur more than 170 times.^[2][8]

Semantic evolution

In the Bible of 1688 its forms are frequent from Genesis on: copilașul already in Genesis 22:5.^[9] The DLRLC lists the senses of the base word: a small child, a son or daughter, and in folk poetry a young man, as in Alecsandri's Mihu copilaș.^[10] Costinescu (1870) notes that it is said to a child as a caress.^[11] In Bessarabia it also names a sucker on the maize plant, after the sense “shoot” of copil.^[4][6] Copilaș is also a surname.^[12][1]

Timeline

• 1648 – copilaș “little child” in Năsturel's Varlaam and Ioasaf.^[4]
• c. 1660–1670 – in a Slavonic–Romanian lexicon.^[7]
• 1688 – frequent in the Bucharest Bible.^[2][8]
• 1688 – the feminine copilașă.^[4]
• 1870 – Costinescu: a word of endearment for a child.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. A little child, a kid; a diminutive and term of endearment of copil.^[3][2][11]
2. A baby.^[1]
3. (folk poetry) A young man, a lad.^[10]
4. (regional, Bessarabia) A sucker of the maize plant.^[4]

Related words

• Megleno-Romanian cupilaș

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 504
3. ^ a b DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 234
4. ^ a b c d e f 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. copil
5. ^ Capidan, Theodor (1935), Meglenoromânii III: Dicționar meglenoromân, București: Academia Română, p. 87
6. ^ 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. copil
7. ^ a b 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. copilaș
8. ^ a b Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition)
9. ^ Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Facerea 22:5
10. ^ a b Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1, 546
11. ^ a b c Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 1, 251
12. ^ Iordan, Iorgu (1983), Dicționar al numelor de familie românești, București: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică, p. 145