gaie

Forms

gaie f (plural găi)^[1] The old texts and Transylvania have caie: the Bible of 1688 has „Și șorlița și caia” “and the kite and the hawk” (Leviticus 11:14).^[2][3]

Etymology

Its origin is disputed: DEX and MDA2 call it unknown.^[4][5] Ciorănescu takes it as an expressive formation on the interjection from Romanian ga, which imitates the bird's call.^[6] For him the likeness to Latin gaia (“jay”) is chance: the Romanian word fits it neither in sound nor in sense, and the meaning points to a trait shared by several birds, not to one species.^[6]

Pușcariu, Candrea and Densusianu, the REW, Pascu and the DA derive it from that Latin word, which Papias's glosses explain as “magpie”, while elsewhere Pascu preferred gāvia (“seagull”).^[6][7][8][3] Tiktin finds both Latin sources unlikely because of the meaning, and Wiktionary calls the word possibly onomatopoeic.^[2][1] The DA and Candrea and Densusianu compare Aromanian gaie “crow”.^[3][7]

The variant caie may owe its ⟨c⟩ to Serbo-Croatian kanja (“buzzard”).^[6] Tiktin compares Polish kania and Hungarian kánya too, and suggests that the ⟨g⟩ of the headword came from gaiță.^[6][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is from 1542, in a source he abbreviates as G. LEX, for the red kite.^[2] MDA2 cites the Bible of 1688, through Tiktin.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The word names the kites, birds of prey of the genus Milvus, and regionally the hawk.^[4][5] In Aromanian the cognate means a crow or jackdaw.^[6][2]

The bird stands in folk phrases and games: a se ține gaie după cineva “to follow someone everywhere”, l-a luat gaia “he came to grief”, and the children's game de-a puia-gaia, in which a hen protects her chicks from the hawk.^[4][9][2] Caragiale has „s-a ținut iar gaie după mine” “he followed me about again”.^[2][3] Plant names use it too: iarba-găii is Picris hieracioides.^[10][2]

Timeline

• 1542 – the first record, after Tiktin.^[2]
• 1688 – caia in the Bucharest Bible (Leviticus 11:14).^[2]
• 1825 – gaie in the Lexicon de la Buda.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. A kite: a bird of prey like a hawk, with a hooked beak, strong claws and a forked tail (genus Milvus).^[4][1]
2. (regional) A hawk.^[5]

Word family

• gaiță

Usage notes

Se ține gaie după (de) cineva is said of someone one cannot get rid of;^[4] m-a luat gaia means “I've had it”.^[4] The plural is găi.^[5]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. gaie
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. gaie
4. ^ 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, 423
5. ^ a b c d e Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 960
6. ^ 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. gaie
7. ^ a b Candrea, I.-A.; Densusianu, Ov. (1907–1914), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române: elementele latine (A–Putea), București, p. s.v. gaie
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 3640
9. ^ Ștef, Dorin (2021), Dicționar de regionalisme și arhaisme din județul Maramureș, 3rd ed., Baia Mare, p. s.v. gáie
10. ^ Academia Republicii Populare Romîne (1958), Dicționarul limbii romîne moderne, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. s.v. gaie
11. ^ Lesicon românescu-latinescu-ungurescu-nemțescu quare de mai mulți autori, în cursul a trideci și mai multor ani s-au lucrat (1825), Buda: Typographia Universității (the Lexicon of Buda, ed. Petru Maior et al.), p. 231