curvă

Forms

curvă f (plural curve)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Old Church Slavonic куръва (kurŭva, “harlot”).^{[2][3][4][5][6]} The Slavonic word goes back to Proto-Slavic *kury, of uncertain etymology.^[2][7] One view takes it from Germanic, comparing Proto-Germanic *hōrō (“whore”);^[2][8] Miklosich held this view, and Vasmer rejected it.^[2][8] Vasmer and others derive it from *kurъ (“cock, rooster”), so that it first meant “hen”, as French cocotte means both “hen” and “loose woman”.^[8][1][9]

The word is in all the neighbouring languages: Bulgarian курва (kurva), Russian курва (kurva), Modern Greek κούρβα (koúrva), Albanian kurvë and Hungarian kurva.^[3][10][1] Gáldi held that Hungarian also played a part in bringing it to Romanian.^[6] The Hungarian word is itself a Slavic loan, recorded about 1405.^[9] It is found in Aromanian as well: Aromanian curvã, which Papahagi takes from Slavonic or Bulgarian.^[11][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR's first record is the Slavonic–Romanian Gospel of 1551–1553.^[2] MDA2 and Tiktin cite the Codicele Voronețean (c. 1563–1583), at James 2:25.^[4][6] The derivative curvar “fornicator” is older still, in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki of the early 16th century.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The old texts use it for the harlot of the Bible: Coresi's psalter of 1570 has curva at Psalm 49:19, and the Psaltirea Scheiană says „cu curva partea ta puneai” “you took your part with the harlot”.^[12][10] The Bible of 1688 forbids bringing „plata curvei” “the hire of a whore” into the house of the Lord.^[6] In Christian morality it named any woman living with a man outside a church marriage, and an adulteress.^[4] The DA noted that the word was usual in the old writers and in folk speech but avoided in cultivated language and in literature.^[10] It became a term of abuse, used of men too, and a word for a two-faced, base person.^[4][5] Regionally it names a gull, Larus leucocephalus, and a variety of bean with half-red, half-white seeds.^[4][3] A large family of derivatives grew in the old language, from curvar and curvie to curvări.^[2][3]

Timeline

• c. 1500-1520 – the derivative curvar in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki.^[2]
• 1551-1553 – curvă in the Slavonic–Romanian Gospel, DELR's first record, and the adjective curvăresc.^[2]
• 1560-1561 – the verb curvări in Coresi's Tetraevangelion.^[2]
• c. 1563-1583 – in the Codicele Voronețean.^[4][6]
• 1570 – curva in Coresi's psalter, Psalm 49:19.^[12]
• 1581 – curvarnic in Coresi's Carte de învățătură.^[2]
• 1649 – Mardarie's lexicon gives it for Slavonic блудница “harlot”.^[13]
• 1688 – the Bucharest Bible, Genesis 38:15 among many passages.^[14]

Meanings

Noun

1. (vulgar) A woman who leads a dissolute life; a prostitute, whore.^[5][1]
2. (figurative) A hypocritical, base person, cutră; also a term of abuse addressed to men.^[5][4]
3. (regional) A gull, Larus leucocephalus.^[4][3]

Word family

• curvar
• curvarnic
• curvaș
• curvăresc
• curvăreț
• curvări
• curvărie
• curvărit
• curvesc
• curvește
• curvi
• curvie

Related words

• preacurvă
• Aromanian curvã

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 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. curvă
3. ^ a b c d e f 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. curvă
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 583
5. ^ a b c d DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 264
6. ^ a b c d e Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. curvă
7. ^ Georgiev, Vladimir I. et al. (eds.) (1971–), Bălgarski etimologičen rečnik, Sofija: Izdatelstvo na Bălgarskata akademija na naukite, p. 3, 144
8. ^ a b c Vasmer, Max (1964–1973), Ètimologičeskij slovar' russkogo jazyka, transl. and suppl. by O. N. Trubačev, 4 vols., Moskva: Progress
9. ^ a b Gerstner, Károly (ed.) (2006–), Új magyar etimológiai szótár, Budapest: Nyelvtudományi Kutatóközpont; online at uesz.nytud.hu
10. ^ 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. curvă
11. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 341
12. ^ a b Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Ungureanu, Mădălina; Moruz, Alexandru et al., roPsalt: Re-evaluating the Sixteenth Century Romanian Psalters (aligned corpus), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. Ps 49:19
13. ^ Ungureanu, Mădălina; Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Moruz, Alexandru (eds.), eRomLex: The First Romanian Bilingual Dictionaries (17th century), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. s.v. curvă
14. ^ Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Genesis 38:15