custodie

Forms

custodie f (plural custodii)^[1] Old variants are custudíe, the form of the first record (1635), and custozíe.^[2][3] The DA notes that the word was also stressed custódie in the old language, as in Varlaam's „Custodiia aceaia ce dzice evanghelistul” “that guard of which the evangelist speaks”.^[4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin custōdia (“watch, guard, safekeeping”).^[5][2][1][6] In the old language the word came in through Old Church Slavonic коустодиꙗ (koustodija, “guard”), the form of the Slavonic Gospels, as Tiktin, the DA and DELR say;^{[7][4][2][8][9]} DLRM gives the Slavonic word as the only source.^{[7][4][2][8][9]} The Greek Gospel text has Ancient Greek κουστωδία (koustōdía), the Latin word in Greek dress.^[7][9][10] The modern legal word is a learned Latinism, and Marcu names Italian custodia beside the Latin;^[2][11][1] Wiktionary allows an Italian route too.^[2][11][1] Scriban notes that an inherited form would have been ⟨*custoază⟩.^[10]

The Latin noun is formed custōs (“guardian”) with the suffix -ia.^[12][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR and Tiktin date the word to 1635, from the variant custudíe.^[2][7] Varlaam's Cazania of 1643, MDA2's first record, explains that the guard named in the Gospel means the hundred young men who kept watch: the word then meant a company of guards a hundred strong.^[4][3] The Bible of 1688 has it at the tomb of Christ: „Aveți custodie” “ye have a watch” (Matthew 27:65).^[7][13]

Semantic evolution

From “guard, company of soldiers” the word passed to a single guard or watchman, as in Petru Maior's history, which explains custodii as “keepers”.^[4][3] C. Negruzzi remarked that few people of his day would understand the word.^[4] Negulici's dictionary of 1848 brought it back with the Latin sense “keeping, guard”, together with a verb custodi “to guard”.^[14][2] The DA still called the sense “safekeeping” an unusual Latinism, quoting a newspaper of 1933 on goods left in the custody of merchants; it is now the legal term for keeping, and sometimes administering, goods placed under seizure.^[4][5]

Timeline

• 1635 – the variant custudíe, the first record.^[2][7]
• 1643 – custodiia “the guard” in Varlaam's Cazania.^[3][4]
• 1688 – „Aveți custodie” and „pecetluind piatra cu custodia” in the Bucharest Bible (Matthew 27:65–66).^[7][13]
• 1848 – custodie “guard” and the verb custodi in Negulici's dictionary.^[14][2]
• 1933 – the legal sense, goods left in the custody of merchants, in the newspaper Universul.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. (law) custody: the keeping, and sometimes the administration, of property, especially goods placed under seizure.^[5][3][1]
2. (obsolete) A guard of soldiers, a company of a hundred men.^[3][4]
3. (obsolete) A guard, a watchman.^[3][4]

Related words

• custode

Usage notes

The usual phrase is în custodia “in the keeping of” someone, of goods placed under seizure.^[15][5]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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. custode
3. ^ a b c d e f g Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 584
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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. custodie
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. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România
7. ^ 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. custodie
8. ^ a b Academia Republicii Populare Romîne (1958), Dicționarul limbii romîne moderne, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne
9. ^ a b c Kurz, Josef; Hauptová, Zoe (eds.) (1958–1997), Slovník jazyka staroslověnského / Lexicon linguae palaeoslovenicae, 4 vols. + supplements, Praha: Academia; digital ed. gorazd.org
10. ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 384
11. ^ a b Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual
12. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
13. ^ a b Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition)
14. ^ a b Negulici, I. D. (1848), Vocabular romînesc de toate vorbele streine întroduse pînă acum în limba romînească și de toate cuvintele ce s-ar mai putea introduce încă, București
15. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1, 620