cruce

Forms

cruce f (plural cruci)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin crucem (“cross”), a word inherited by all the Romance languages.^{[2][3][4][1][5][6]} The word survives south of the Danube: Aromanian crutse and Megleno-Romanian cruță.^[3][2][7] Its Romance cognates include Italian croce, Occitan crotz, French croix and Spanish cruz.^[3][6]

The Latin word first named any wooden frame on which criminals were executed.^[8] Its origin is unclear: de Vaan compares Celtic and Germanic words for a heap or a back but finds the root shape un-Indo-European, and Nocentini mentions the view that it was a Punic loan.^[9][10][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is the place name Crucho of 1390.^[2][11] In Romanian texts MDA2 dates the word to the Tetraevanghel of 1574.^[4] The sense was the cross of Christ and the Christian symbol.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The word names the instrument of execution, the cross of Christ, the Christian symbol and the sign of the cross, and by extension any object or sign shaped like a cross.^[2][4][3] It is a word of general use everywhere.^[3] Figuratively it is a deep suffering that one carries through life.^[4]

The rural vocabulary has many shape senses: a crossroads, the crossbar of a cart, part of a reel, a stack of sheaves, and in Maramureș the middle of the day, crucea zilei.^[3][11][12] Tiktin records that a bridegroom used to wear a wreath in the form of a whole cross and the bride one of a half cross, hence a man called cruce de voinic “a strong lad”.^[11][3] In the old fiscal system a cruce was a group of two to four taxpayers who paid their dues together.^[13][14] In card games it named the suit of clubs.^[3][11]

The adverb cruciș “crosswise” is recorded from 1597, and cruciuliță “little cross” from 1802.^[2] crucer “kreuzer”, a coin stamped with a cross, was formed after German Kreuzer.^[2][3] The learned cruciadă “crusade” came from French croisade, reshaped after cruce.^[2][3]

Timeline

• 1390 – the place name Crucho.^[2][11]
• 1574 – the Tetraevanghel.^[4]
• 1597 – the adverb cruciș “crosswise”.^[2]
• 1688 – the Bucharest Bible (Matthew 27:40).^[15]
• 1717–1723 – cruțiat “crusader” in Cantemir.^[2]
• 1763 – cruceată “crusade”.^[2]
• 1802 – cruciuliță “little cross”.^[2]
• 1883 – crucer “kreuzer”.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. In antiquity, the cross used as an instrument of torture and execution.^[4][16]
2. An object made of two pieces of wood, stone or metal set across each other, the main symbol of the Christian religion;^[17] a pune cruce is to give someone or something up as dead or lost.^[17]
3. A figure or mark in the form of a cross;^[17][4] Crucea Roșie is the Red Cross.^[17][4]
4. The sign of the cross;^[17] a-și face cruce is to cross oneself, and also to be amazed.^[17]
5. (figurative) A heavy suffering borne through life.^[4]
6. A crossroads, also crucea drumului.^[3][13]
7. The crossbar of a cart, fixed across the pole where it joins the body.^[18][3]
8. (card games, rare) The suit of clubs.^[3][11]

Word family

• cruci
• cruciș
• încrucișa
• răscruce
• cruciuliță
• crucer
• crucelnic
• descrucișa

Related words

• cruciadă
• cruciat
• crucifix
• crucial
• Aromanian crutse
• Latin crux

Usage notes

Cu crucea în sân “with the cross in one's bosom” is said of a pious person or a hypocrite.^[17][19] Superstitious people say cruce de aur în casă! when the devil is named.^[17]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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. cruce
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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. cruce
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 557
5. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 2348
6. ^ a b Candrea, I.-A.; Densusianu, Ov. (1907–1914), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române: elementele latine (A–Putea), București, p. 73
7. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 314
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. crux
9. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill, p. s.v. crux
10. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier, p. s.v. croce
11. ^ 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. cruce
12. ^ Ștef, Dorin (2021), Dicționar de regionalisme și arhaisme din județul Maramureș, 3rd ed., Baia Mare, p. s.v. cruce
13. ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 369
14. ^ Constantinescu, Grigore; Constantinescu, Eugenia (2014), Glosar. Arealul etnocultural Argeș-Muscel, p. 36
15. ^ Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Mt 27:40
16. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. cruce
17. ^ 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. 254
18. ^ Breban, Vasile (1980), Dicționar al limbii române contemporane de uz curent, București: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică, p. s.v. cruce
19. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 180