cursoare

Forms

cursoare f (plural cursori)^[1]

Etymology

Tiktin, the DA and MDA2 take it as formed from Romanian curs + -oare, from the old past participle of cure “to run, flow”.^[2][3][4] DEX, CADE and Candrea and Densusianu take it instead as inherited from Latin cursōria, the feminine of cursōrius (“of running”) used as a noun;^[5][6][7][1] Candrea and Densusianu note that the Latin word is recorded only as the name of a boat.^[5][6][7][1] DELR gives both views.^[8] That verb is currō (“to run”).^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin and DELR date the first record to 1679, in Dosoftei's Liturghier.^[2][8] MDA2 cites Dosoftei's Viața și petrecerea sfinților (1682–1686), where it means a discharge of blood: „bolind la ochi de cursoare” “suffering from a discharge of the eyes”.^[4][2]

Semantic evolution

The word meant the flow of water and a current: „fântâni... și alte cursori de ape” “springs and other streams of water” (Mărgăritare, 1746).^[2][3] It also named a discharge or secretion of the body, a haemorrhage, and in the Banat diarrhoea.^[8][9] Figuratively it was used of the passing of time, „într-acea cursoare de ani” “in that span of years” in a chronicle Tiktin quotes, and of a development or a political current: Bălcescu wrote that the current that drew Michael the Brave into Transylvania was a strong one.^[2][3]

Timeline

• 1679 – cursoare in Dosoftei's Liturghier, the first record.^[2][8]
• 1682-1686 – cursoare “discharge” in Dosoftei's lives of the saints.^[4][2]
• 1688 – the plural cursori in the Bucharest Bible.^[10]
• 1746 – cursori de ape “streams of water” in the Mărgăritare.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. (obsolete) A current, flow of water.^[5][4][1]
2. (obsolete) A discharge of the body; a haemorrhage.^[8][4]
3. (obsolete, figurative) Force, impetus; the course of time.^[5][2]

Related words

• cursură
• curge
• scursoare

Usage notes

In modern Romanian cursoare is above all the plural of the neologism cursor “slider of a measuring instrument”, a separate word borrowed from French and Latin.^[5][4] The old noun has the plural cursori.^[5]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. cursoare
3. ^ a b c d 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. cursoare
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, 582
5. ^ a b c d e f DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1, 264
6. ^ a b Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. cursoare
7. ^ a b Candrea, I.-A.; Densusianu, Ov. (1907–1914), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române: elementele latine (A–Putea), București, p. s.v. cursoare
8. ^ 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. curge
9. ^ Bulgăr, Gheorghe; Constantinescu-Dobridor, Gheorghe (2002), Dicționar de arhaisme și regionalisme, 2 vols., București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. cursoare
10. ^ Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Ps 118:136