cuceri

Forms

cuceri (third-person singular present cucerește, past participle cucerit), 4th conjugation^[1] The old language also had cuciri and a first person cucer: Dosoftei writes „Domnului te roagă și te cucirește” “pray to the Lord and humble yourself before him”.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *conquaerō (“to seek out, obtain”), with a change to the fourth conjugation, from conquaerō, a late remaking of Classical conquīrō (“to search out and collect”) after the simple verb quaerō (“to seek”).^{[4][5][6][7][1]} Pușcariu (no. 425), Candrea–Densusianu (no. 318) and the REW list it among the inherited words.^[6][8] Tiktin thought of conqueror (“to complain loudly”) instead, and Șăineanu followed him.^[3][9]

From “to gather from everywhere” the verb passed to “to obtain, to subdue”, as in Dalmatian končaro, Catalan conquerre, Old French conquerre and Old Spanish conquerir;^[4] Old Italian conquidere continues the classical form.^[4] The old Romanian reflexive “to submit humbly” presupposes an unrecorded transitive “to subdue”;^[4][6] DELR allows the influence of a Slavonic verb for “to be submissive”, while Ciorănescu finds the change natural without it.^[4][6] The modern sense “to conquer” is a semantic loan from French conquérir, recorded from 1784.^[4][6][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is Coresi's Gospel book of 1561, at Matthew 28:9, with the reflexive sense “to bow down humbly, do homage”.^[4][3]

Semantic evolution

In the old language a se cuceri meant “to submit humbly, bow down; to pray humbly”: Coresi's Carte de învățătură of 1581 has cucerindu-ne, and Dosoftei and Antim use it often.^[5][2] A rare transitive use was “to surrender” a fortress to someone.^[5][7] The family took the religious sense: cucernic “devout” in Ureche, cucernicie “piety” and cucerie “humility” in 1652, and cucerire “humility” from 1581.^[4]

Under the influence of French conquérir the verb took the sense “to take by force of arms” in 1784, and the figurative “to win over” followed.^[4][9] Cucerire “conquest” and cuceritor “conqueror” are recorded from 1845, and recuceri “to reconquer” from 1865.^[4] In Maramureș the variant cuciuri is said of dogs that fawn.^[4]

Timeline

• 1561 – the first record, in Coresi's Gospel book (Matthew 28:9).^[4][3]
• 1581 – cucerindu-ne in Coresi's Carte de învățătură, and cucerire “humility”.^[2][4]
• 1642-1647 – cucernic “devout” in Ureche.^[4]
• 1652 – cucerie and cucernicie.^[4]
• 1705 – cuceritură “humility, bow” in Cantemir.^[4]
• 1784 – the sense “to conquer”, after French.^[4]
• 1845 – cucerire “conquest” and cuceritor “conqueror”.^[4]
• 1865 – recuceri “to reconquer”.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To conquer: to take and subjugate a territory by force of arms; to win something by sustained struggle.^[7][1]
2. (transitive, figurative) To win someone's sympathy, love or goodwill.^[7]
3. (dated, transitive and reflexive) To submit, bow; to pray humbly.^[7][2]

Word family

• cucerire
• cuceritor
• cucernic
• cucernicie
• cucerie
• cucerință
• cuceritură
• recuceri
• preacucernic

Usage notes

Cúceri, stressed on the first syllable, is a different word: a plural noun for the masked mummers of folk custom, from Bulgarian кукери (kukeri), recorded from about 1730.^[10][2]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 562
3. ^ a b c d Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. cuceri
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s 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. cuceri
5. ^ 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. cuceri
6. ^ a b c d e 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. cuceri
7. ^ a b c d e DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 256
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 2155
9. ^ a b Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 181
10. ^ 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. cuc