crocodil

Forms

crocodil m (plural crocodili)^[1] The old forms corcodil and corcodel come from Church Slavonic; the Bible of 1688 has corcodel (Leviticus 11:29).^[2][3]

Etymology

The word reached Romanian more than once.^[4] According to DELR it is borrowed from Modern Greek κροκόδειλος (krokódilos), and also borrowed from New Latin crocodilus, while the old variants with ⟨cor-⟩ (see Forms) come from Old Church Slavonic коркодилъ (korkodilŭ); the technical senses follow French crocodile.^[2] DEX, MDA2 and the neologism dictionaries give the French and the Latin word as the sources of the modern word, Tiktin the Greek or Latin word, and Wiktionary the French word alone.^{[5][6][7][3][1]}

The Latin word is from Ancient Greek κροκόδειλος (krokódeilos).^[8][1] Latin also had a form with metathesis, corcodilus, and the French word goes back to Old French cocodril, later respelled after the Latin.^[8][9][1] The Greek word first meant “lizard”; its origin is unclear, and an old explanation takes it from κρόκη (krókē, “pebble”) and δρῖλος (drîlos, “worm”).^[2][1][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is the Romanian translation of Herodotus, dated 1645: „Au fost și crocodili, care sânt și în Nilos” “there were also crocodiles, which are also in the Nile”.^[3][4] DELR's first record is the form corcodil in Năsturel's Varlaam și Ioasaf (1648).^[2]

Semantic evolution

In the old texts, such as the Romanian Herodotus and the Bible, the word names the animal.^[4][3] The familiar phrase lacrimi de crocodil “crocodile tears” means feigned weeping.^[5][11]

Under French influence the word also became a technical term: a metal device on railway tracks that passes signals to a moving locomotive by sounding its whistle, laboratory pliers that make cork stoppers supple, a small toothed clip for temporary electrical connections, and on ships a device that holds a rope.^[2][5][7] The derivative crocodilian, the name of the order of crocodiles, was taken from French crocodiliens and is recorded from 1904.^[2]

Timeline

• 1645 – crocodili in the Romanian Herodotus.^[3][4]
• 1648 – corcodil in Năsturel's Varlaam și Ioasaf.^[2]
• 1688 – corcodel in the Bucharest Bible.^[3][6]
• 1825 – crocodilu in the Lexicon de la Buda.^[12]
• 1904 – crocodilian, the order of reptiles.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A crocodile: a large tropical reptile that lives in rivers, with bony plates on its body, a long tail, a long head and strong jaws.^[5][6] Lacrimi de crocodil (familiar): crocodile tears, feigned weeping.^[5][6]
2. A metal device fixed on railway tracks that passes signal commands to a moving locomotive.^[5][6]
3. Laboratory pliers used to make cork stoppers supple.^[5][6]
4. A small clip with toothed jaws for temporary electrical connections; a crocodile clip.^[5][13]
5. (nautical) A device that holds a rope fast.^[7][2]

Word family

• crocodilian

Related words

• Latin crocodilus
• French crocodile

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 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. crocodil
3. ^ a b c d e f Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. crocodil
4. ^ a b c d 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. crocodil
5. ^ a b c d e f g h DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 252
6. ^ a b c d e f Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 553
7. ^ a b c Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. crocodil
8. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. crocodīlus
9. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. crocodilus
10. ^ Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, p. s.v. κροκόδειλος
11. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1, 583
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. 148
13. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. crocodil