curechi

Forms

curechi m (plural curechi)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin cōliculus (“small stalk; cabbage”), the form of cauliculus that already occurs in Latin, a diminutive of caulis (“stalk; cabbage”).^{[2][3][4][5][1]} Wiktionary sets up a spoken Latin *coliclus.^[1] Ciorănescu compares Italian colecchio and Spanish colleja.^[3][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR dates the first record to 1624, in a document of the collection published by Bianu.^[2] Tiktin's first source is the Anonymus Caransebesiensis, a glossary of about 1670, and MDA2's Dosoftei's Viața și petrecerea sfinților (1682–1686).^[7][8]

Semantic evolution

The word means “cabbage” in Transylvania, Moldavia and the Banat; in Muntenia and Oltenia the word is varză.^[2][3] In the old language its plural also meant “greens, vegetables”: in Dosoftei a margin note glosses verdeți with chiurechiuri.^[2][9] DELR notes that this is the reverse of the history of varză, whose old plural vearze meant “greens” and which narrowed to “cabbage”.^[2]

In Maramureș curechi umplut “stuffed cabbage” is the name of sarmale.^[10] A proverb mocks those who want everything: vrei să fii și cu slănina în pod și cu curechiul uns “you want to keep the bacon in the loft and still have your cabbage greased”.^[7]

Timeline

• 1624 – curechi in a document, the first record.^[2]
• 1631 – curecher “cabbage grower or seller”.^[2]
• c. 1670 – curechi in the Anonymus Caransebesiensis.^[7]
• 1682-1686 – chiurechiuri “greens” in Dosoftei.^[8][9]
• 1806 – curechiște “cabbage field” in Șincai's Economia.^[2]
• 1870 – curecherie and curechios.^[2]
• 1903 – curechiță “cabbage white butterfly” in Marian's work on insects.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (regional) cabbage (Brassica oleracea).^[4][8][1]
2. (regional) A dish of cabbage, fresh or pickled.^[8]
3. curechi-de-munte: a mountain plant of the daisy family with golden-yellow flowers.^[4]

Word family

• curecher
• curechesc
• curechios
• curechiște
• curechiță
• curechiu

Related words

• varză
• Latin caulis

Usage notes

DEX gives the word as masculine, DELR and DLRLV as neuter;^[4][2][8][9] MDA2 records a plural curechiuri.^[4][2][8][9]

References

1. ^ a b c d e 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. curechi
3. ^ a b c 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. curechi
4. ^ a b c d e DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1, 263
5. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 1727
7. ^ a b c Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. curechi
8. ^ 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
9. ^ a b c d Costinescu, Mariana; Georgescu, Magdalena; Zgraon, Florentina (1987), Dicționarul limbii române literare vechi (1640–1780): termeni regionali, București: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică, p. 1, 117
10. ^ Ștef, Dorin (2021), Dicționar de regionalisme și arhaisme din județul Maramureș, 3rd ed., Baia Mare, p. s.v. curechi