curățenie

Forms

curățenie f (plural curățenii)^[1] A regional form curățănie is recorded: o cutie piluri de curățănie “a box of purgative pills”.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from Romanian curăți + -enie, with the abstract suffix, as the DA and Tiktin explain;^{[2][4][5][3][6][1]} DEX, MDA2 and Wiktionary form it on the adjective curat, and DELR gives both.^{[2][4][5][3][6][1]} The DA explains that it began as a verbal noun, “cleaning”, and in time took over the place of the adjectival abstract curăție “cleanness”, which DELR records from the early 16th century.^[2][6] Scriban calls the suffix Slavic.^[7] The family goes back to cūrō (“to take care of”), the source of the old verb cura.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Palia de la Orăștie (1581–1582), Exodus 29:37, in the senses “cleansing; purification”.^[6][4] DELR glosses its early meanings as “the act of cleaning; being clean; healing from a disease; atonement for sins”.^[6] The Bucharest Bible of 1688 uses it often, for ritual purification.^[8]

Semantic evolution

Old texts used it for ritual purification, for chastity (curățeniia fecioriei, 1776), for menstruation and for the healing of a disease.^[2][4] Klein's dictionary of 1801 glosses it with Latin words for cleanliness and chastity.^[9] A medical sense “purgative” is still current.^[2][5] The everyday sense “cleanliness” and the phrase a face curățenie “to clean the house” are the main ones today, and the figurative “purity of heart, sincerity” survives in phrases like curățenia inimii.^[5][10][4]

Timeline

• 1581-1582 – first record of curățenie, in the Palia de la Orăștie.^[6][4]
• 1652 – the opposite necurățenie “filth” in the Îndreptarea legii.^[6]
• 1688 – used throughout the Bucharest Bible.^[8]
• 1776 – curățeniia fecioriei “the chastity of virginity” in a Menaion.^[4][2]
• 1801 – glossed “cleanliness, chastity” in Klein's dictionary.^[9]
• 1813 – “cure, healing” of contagious diseases in a document.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. cleanliness: the quality or state of being clean.^[5][3][1]
2. cleaning, tidying of a house: removing dirt and dust and putting things in order;^[5][10][1] a face curățenie “to clean up”.^[5][10][1]
3. (figurative) Purity of heart, innocence, sincerity.^[10][3]
4. (popular) A purgative, laxative.^[5][10]
5. (obsolete) Chastity; ritual purification; menstruation; healing.^[3][2]

Word family

• necurățenie

Related words

• curat
• curăți
• curăție

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 (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. curățenie
3. ^ 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, 578
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. curățenie
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. 262
6. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. curat
7. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 380
8. ^ a b Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition)
9. ^ a b 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)
10. ^ a b c d e Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional