cuptor

Forms

cuptor n (plural cuptoare)^[1] Variants are coptor and regional cuptior (Moldavia), cupteor (Wallachia) and cutior.^[2][3] The Psaltirea Scheiană has cuptoriu: „că pură ei ca cuptoriu aprinsu” “for thou shalt make them as a fiery oven” (Psalm 20:10).^[4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *coctōrium (“place for baking”), formed on coctus (“cooked, baked”), the past participle of coquō (“to cook, bake”).^{[5][6][7][2][1]} The same Latin word lies behind Albanian koftor, an Abruzzese word for “cauldron” and Italian cottoio.^[5][8][9]

It survives in Istro-Romanian as coptor.^[5][10][11] DELR also gives Aromanian cuptor, but considers it perhaps a loan from Daco-Romanian.^[6] Bulgarian коптор (koptor) “oven, hovel” is a loan from Romanian.^[12][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is a Transylvanian place name of 1501.^[4] In Romanian texts the word appears in the Psaltirea Scheiană (c. 1573–1578) for an oven, in the image of the fiery oven of Psalm 20.^[4][2] DELR's first date is 1582, from the Palia de la Orăștie.^[6]

Semantic evolution

From the baking oven the word came to mean a batch of bread baked at one time, and the platform beside the hearth of a peasant house where people sleep, which gives a sta pe cuptor “to laze about”.^[7][2] In Transylvania and the Banat it also means a stove for heating.^[4][2] Industrial use gave the kiln and the furnace, and the cooker gave the oven of a stove.^[7]

Figuratively it means great heat, and in folk speech cuptor or luna lui cuptor is the month of July.^[7][5][4] DCR records 20th-century compounds such as cuptor-tunel “tunnel kiln” and cuptor cu microunde “microwave oven”.^[13]

Timeline

• 1501 – a Transylvanian place name, the first record.^[4]
• c. 1573–1578 – cuptoriu “oven” in the Psaltirea Scheiană.^[4][2]
• 1582 – cuptor in the Palia de la Orăștie.^[6]
• 1691–1697 – cuptorar “oven builder, baker” and cuptoraș “little oven” in Teodor Corbea's dictionary.^[6]
• 1801 – cuptóriu in Klein's dictionary, glossed with Latin fornax and furnus.^[14]
• 1857 – cuptorel “little oven”.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. An oven of brick, stone, metal or clay for baking bread and pastry; also the oven of a cooker.^[7][1]
2. A batch of bread or pies baked at one time: două cuptoare de pâine.^[7][2]
3. In peasant houses, a raised platform next to the hearth on which people sleep: a sta pe cuptor “to laze about”.^[7]
4. An industrial furnace or kiln for heating, melting or firing materials: cuptor de var “lime kiln”.^[7]
5. (figurative) Great heat;^[7] (popular) luna lui cuptor, the month of July.^[7][1]

Word family

• cuptorar
• cuptoraș
• cuptorel
• cuptorie
• cuptoriș

Related words

• copt
• coace
• Istro-Romanian coptor
• Latin coquō

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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, 576
3. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 379
4. ^ a b c d e f g Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. cuptor
5. ^ 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. cuptor
6. ^ 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. coace
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 261
8. ^ 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. cuptor
9. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
10. ^ Popovici, Iosif (1909), Dialectele romîne din Istria II: texte și glosar, Halle a. S., p. 100
11. ^ Kovačec, August (1998), Istrorumunjsko-hrvatski rječnik (s gramatikom i tekstovima), Pula
12. ^ Georgiev, Vladimir I. et al. (eds.) (1971–), Bălgarski etimologičen rečnik, Sofija: Izdatelstvo na Bălgarskata akademija na naukite, p. 2, 622
13. ^ Dimitrescu, Florica (1997), Dicționar de cuvinte recente, 2nd ed., București: Logos (with the 3rd ed., 2013, in CLRE), p. s.v. cuptor
14. ^ Gáldi, László (ed.) (1944), Samuel Klein: Dictionarium valachico-latinum. Primul dicționar al limbii române, Budapest: Királyi Magyar Pázmány Péter Tudományegyetemi Román Intézet (Klein's dictionary of 1801, with Gáldi's etymological study), p. 345