cuțit

Forms

cuțit n (plural cuțite)^[1]

Etymology

Its origin is not certain.^[2] Most sources take it as inherited from Vulgar Latin *cotītus (“whetted, sharpened”), from a verb *cotiō (“to sharpen”), formed on Latin cōs (“whetstone”): this is the view of Tiktin, Pușcariu, the DA, Ciorănescu and Wiktionary.^{[2][3][4][5][1]} Romanian cute “whetstone” continues the same Latin noun.^[3][1]

Candrea and Densusianu proposed instead *acūtītus, from a verb *acūtiō built on acūtus (“sharp”), with the loss of the initial ⟨a⟩;^[2][6] Laurian and Massim had the same idea, Byhan argued for it, and DEX calls it probable.^[2][6] Ciorănescu finds that it has no advantage over the first.^[3] MDA2 gives both etymons.^[7] Either base also explains ascuți “to sharpen”.^[2] Cihac had linked the word to Latin culter (“knife, coulter”), which Byhan rejected.^[2][6]

The word survives in all four branches: Aromanian cutsut, Megleno-Romanian cuțǫt and Istro-Romanian cuțit.^{[3][2][8][9][10]}

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Slavonic–Romanian Gospel of 1551–1553, at Matthew 26:52.^[2][4] The sense is “knife”, which Tiktin glosses as Messer.^[4] MDA2 dates its first record to the Tetraevanghel of 1574.^[7]

Semantic evolution

Besides the kitchen and workshop knife, the word came to name the long iron blade of the plough (the coulter), a part of the loom, and the knife-edge on which a balance turns.^[2][4] In folk medicine cuțit is a sharp stabbing pain, and figuratively pneumonia; the verb cuțita (1900) means “to stab” and “to cause stabbing pains”.^[7][3][2] Many phrases picture enmity or distress: a fi la cuțite “to be at daggers drawn”, which Tiktin compares with French être à couteaux tirés, and a-i ajunge cuțitul la os “to be at the end of one's tether”.^[4][11] Cuțitar, recorded from about 1700, meant a cutler and later also a brawler quick to draw a knife.^[2][3]

Timeline

• 1551–1553 – cuțit in the Slavonic–Romanian Gospel, the first record.^[2][4]
• 1574 – the Tetraevanghel, MDA2's first record.^[7]
• c. 1650 – the diminutive cuțitaș.^[2]
• c. 1700 – cuțitar “cutler”.^[2]
• 1839 – cuțitărie “cutler's shop”.^[2]
• 1862 – cuțitătură “stabbing pain”, in Pontbriant.^[2]
• 1900 – cuțita “to stab”.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A knife: a cutting tool with a metal blade and a handle, used in the household, the workshop and elsewhere; also a paper knife; a scalpel, and by extension a surgical operation.^[11][7]
2. A cutting tool of a machine tool;^[11] cuțit de plug “coulter”, the blade that cuts the furrow vertically in front of the plough.^[11]
3. The main piece of a balance, the edge on which the beam turns.^[11][2]
4. (popular) A sharp stabbing pain; figuratively, pneumonia.^[7][3]

Word family

• cuțita
• cuțitar
• cuțitaș
• cuțitărie
• cuțitătură
• cuțitoaie
• cuțituț
• portcuțit
• cuțitură

Related words

• cute
• ascuți
• custură
• Aromanian cutsut

Usage notes

A avea pâinea și cuțitul (în mână) means “to hold all the power”, and pe muchie de cuțit “on a knife-edge, in a critical situation”.^[11][7]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r 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. cuțit
3. ^ a b c d e f g 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. cuțit
4. ^ 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. cuțit
5. ^ Pușcariu, Sextil (1905), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der rumänischen Sprache I: Lateinisches Element, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 41
6. ^ a b c Byhan, Arthur (1899), Istrorumänisches Glossar, Sechster Jahresbericht des Instituts für rumänische Sprache zu Leipzig: 174–366, p. 260
7. ^ a b c d e f g Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 587
8. ^ Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net), p. 369
9. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 347
10. ^ Kovačec, August (1998), Istrorumunjsko-hrvatski rječnik (s gramatikom i tekstovima), Pula
11. ^ a b c d e f DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 265