descânta

Forms

a descânta (third-person singular present descântă, past participle descântat, third-person subjunctive descânte; 1st conjugation)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *discantō, from dis- and cantō (“to sing; to chant a spell”).^{[2][3][1][4][5]} It survives south of the Danube: Aromanian discãntu and Megleno-Romanian discǫnt.^[2][6][7][8] Its Romance relatives are northern Italian: Friulian discjantâ and Venetian descantar.^[2][1] Candrea and Densusianu add Old French deschanter (“to break a spell”).^[9] For the sense DER compares French enchanter and Spanish encantar.^[2]

DELR gives a second view, a Romanian formation on cânta, and Tiktin's first edition a change of prefix from încânta.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki (c. 1500–1520), in Psalm 57: the wicked are like the deaf asp that stops its ears so as not to hear „glasul descântătorilor” “the voice of the charmers”.^[10][3] Tiktin's first record is Coresi's Omiliar of 1581, MDA2's Dosoftei's Lives of the Saints (1682–1686).^[11][4]

Semantic evolution

The verb names the folk healer's spell: to say ritual words, with or without gestures, to cure an illness or drive away a curse.^[10][4] A Coresi print says of the foolish that when they fall ill they go to some woman who “charms” them.^[10] In a bad sense it meant “to bewitch”, and figuratively “to charm with words”.^[3][2] In colloquial use it means “to nag, to lecture”.^[5][3] Aromanian discãntu also means “to talk for nothing”, and discǫnt “to nag” as well.^[6][7]

The family grew early: descântător “charmer” is as old as the verb, and descântec “spell, charm” is recorded from 1581.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 1500–1520 – descântătorilor “of the charmers” and descântă in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki.^[10][3]
• 1581 – descânta in Coresi's Omiliar;^[11][3] descântec “spell” in the same year.^[11][3]
• 1682–1686 – Dosoftei's Lives of the Saints, MDA2's first record.^[4]
• 1688 – descântând in the Bucharest Bible.^[10]
• 1698 – descântătură “charm”.^[3]
• 1874 – descântătoare “woman who charms”.^[3]
• 1885 – descânt “spell”.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. (intransitive) To say charms with ritual gestures in order to break a spell or cure an illness.^[5][4][1]
2. (transitive) To bewitch, to cast a spell on someone with charms.^[5][4]
3. (transitive, colloquial) To scold, to lecture, to go on at someone.^[5][2]

Word family

• descântare
• descântat
• descântător
• descântătoare
• descântătură
• descântec
• descânt

Related words

• încânta
• cânta
• Aromanian discãntu

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. descînta
3. ^ 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. cânta
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, 654
5. ^ a b c d e DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1, 295
6. ^ a b Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 394
7. ^ a b Saramandu, Nicolae (coord.) et al. (2010–), Dicționarul dialectului meglenoromân, general și etimologic, fascicles in Fonetică și dialectologie XXIX–, p. 211
8. ^ Capidan, Theodor (1935), Meglenoromânii III: Dicționar meglenoromân, București: Academia Română, p. 112
9. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Densusianu, Ov. (1907–1914), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române: elementele latine (A–Putea), București, p. 62
10. ^ a b c d e Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. descânta
11. ^ 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. descânta