curajos

Forms

curajos m or n (feminine singular curajoasă, masculine plural curajoși, feminine/neuter plural curajoase)^[1] An older variant curagios follows the Italian spelling;^[2][3] DLRLC quotes it from Caragiale.^[2][3] DELR's first record, of 1831, has the form curajios.^[4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French courageux, the source that DEX, MDN and DELR name.^[3][5][4] DN gives French and compares Italian, while MDA2 and Tiktin name both French and Italian coraggioso.^[6][7][8] Within Romanian it reads as the noun curaj with the suffix -os.^[1]

The French adjective continues Old French corageus, formed on courage.^[1] The Italian one, recorded before 1250, is formed on coraggio (“courage”), which came from Occitan coratge (“heart, courage”), from Vulgar Latin *corāticum, a derivative of Latin cor (“heart”).^[9][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR dates the adjective to 1831, in the form curajios, with the sense “bold, fearless”.^[4] Tiktin's first record is of 1835.^[8] MDA2 cites it only from a 1930 edition of Caragiale.^[7]

Semantic evolution

The meaning has stayed close to the French one: full of courage, bold, brave.^[3][11] It is also said of acts and gestures that show courage, and in the 20th century it was set against fricos and laș.^[2] MDA2 records it as an adverb, “courageously”, as well.^[7] The noun curaj had given a verb curajui “to encourage” by 1805, and descuraja and încuraja belong to the same family.^[4] Tiktin records the negative necurajos “fainthearted”.^[8]

Timeline

• 1831 – curajios “bold, fearless”, the first record of the adjective.^[4]
• 1835 – curajos, Tiktin's first record.^[8]
• 1893 – in Damé's Romanian–French dictionary, glossed courageux.^[12]

Meanings

Adjective

1. brave, courageous: full of courage, bold, not afraid of danger or difficulty.^[3][2]
2. Of acts or gestures: showing courage: un gest curajos “a brave gesture”.^[2][7]
3. (adverbial) Bravely, with courage.^[7]

Word family

• necurajos

Related words

• curaj
• încuraja
• descuraja

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1, 610
3. ^ a b c d e DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 262
4. ^ a b c d e 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. curaj
5. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. curajos
6. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. curajos
7. ^ 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, 577
8. ^ 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. curajos
9. ^ Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
10. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
11. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 379
12. ^ Damé, Frédéric (1893–1895), Nouveau dictionnaire roumain-français, 4 vols., Bucarest: Imprimerie de l'État, p. s.v. curajos