curea

Forms

curea f (plural curele)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin corrigia (“shoelace, thong”).^{[2][3][4][5][1]} Tiktin explains the change through *correja and *correa, compare cucuvea.^[5] DELR compares plai from plagius for the loss of the consonant, and notes the double /r/ kept in the dialect of Oaș.^[2] The word survives south of the Danube: Aromanian curauã and Megleno-Romanian curauă.^[2][6][7] Its Romance cognates include Italian coreggia, Sardinian korria, French courroie, Catalan corretja, Spanish correa and Portuguese correia.^[8][3]

Ciorănescu finds the Romanian form regular, but some scholars prefer a derivative of corium (“leather”).^[3] Densusianu and Pușcariu proposed corella and G. Meyer and Pascu *coriella.^[3][2] De Vaan reconstructs a Proto-Italic compound meaning “tying together”, from a root for stretching and binding.^[9] Wiktionary instead derives it from corrigō (“to straighten”), a link the OLD rejects.^[1][10] The Romanian word was borrowed as Hungarian kurélye, and Ciorănescu thinks Modern Greek κουρέλι (kouréli, “rag”) may be one too.^[3][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR dates the first record to a Wallachian charter of 1533, and Tiktin cites the same collection under 1553.^[2][5] The sense is a strip of leather.^[2] MDA2's first record is the Anonymus Caransebesiensis glossary (c. 1650–1700), which renders the word with Latin corium and lorum.^[4][12]

Semantic evolution

From a thong or strap the word came to mean a leather belt, a bootlace and the knee-strap of a shoemaker.^[5][4] The Bucharest Bible of 1688 speaks of the latchet of the shoes, „cureaoa încălțămintelor”.^[5] Old texts also use it for a strip of skin flayed from a living body.^[12]

As a measure the word named a length of about 16 feet, and then a long, narrow strip of land.^[2][13] In Moldova it is the name of a dance with fiddlers, and in Banat of a children's game.^[2] The phrase a-l ține cureaua “to have the nerve” is found in Alecsandri and Gane: „mai cearcă și altă dată dacă te ține cureaua” “try again some other time if you dare”.^[5] Technical language added the transmission belt of machines and, figuratively, any intermediary.^[13]

Timeline

• 1533 – a Wallachian charter, the first record.^[2]
• 1559-1560 – curelariu “strap maker” in the Codex Bratul.^[2]
• c. 1650-1700 – the Anonymus Caransebesiensis glossary.^[4]
• 1688 – „cureaoa încălțămintelor” in the Bucharest Bible.^[5][14]
• 1716 – „cu cureale crude” “with raw thongs” in a Menaion.^[12]
• 1833 – curelărie “saddler's workshop”.^[2]
• 1868 – curelărie “the saddler's trade”.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A long strap of leather, hemp, plastic etc. with many uses, especially one used to tie or fasten something round the waist: a belt.^[13] A-l ține cureaua (sau curelele) “to have the courage, to dare”.^[13]
2. Curea de transmisie: a drive belt of leather or fabric that carries rotation from one pulley or shaft to another;^[13] (figurative) a go-between.^[13]
3. (obsolete and popular) A measure of length of about 16 feet; by extension a long, narrow strip of land.^[13]

Word family

• curelar
• curelărie
• curelușă
• cureluță
• curelice
• încurela

Related words

• Aromanian curauã
• Latin corrigia

Usage notes

The plural is curele, regionally curăli;^[4] MDA2 also records the variant curauă.^[4]

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 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. curea
3. ^ 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. curea
4. ^ 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, 579
5. ^ 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. curea
6. ^ Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net), p. 358
7. ^ Capidan, Theodor (1935), Meglenoromânii III: Dicționar meglenoromân, București: Academia Română, p. 88
8. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 381
9. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
10. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Densusianu, Ov. (1907–1914), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române: elementele latine (A–Putea), București
12. ^ a b c 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. curea
13. ^ a b c d e f g DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 262
14. ^ Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Luca 3:16