ghici

Forms

ghici (third-person singular present ghicește, past participle ghicit), 4th conjugation^[1] Moldavia and Transylvania say gâci, the older form: the Bible of 1688 has „Și nu au putut să gâcească gâcitoarea în trei zile” “and they could not guess the riddle in three days” (Judges 14:14).^[2][3][4] Mardarie's Slavonic–Romanian lexicon of 1649 has the first person gîcesc.^[5]

Etymology

Its origin is uncertain: DEX calls it of unknown origin,^[6] as Șăineanu did.^[7] Ciorănescu calls it obscure, but thinks it seems connected with Old Church Slavonic гадати (gadati, “to guess, to tell fortunes”) (after Cihac and Berneker), either through a Slavic agent noun meaning “guesser” (the DAR's view) or through a Bulgarian noun meaning “riddle” (Pascu's view); the longer Romanian form that either would give was then shortened.^[8] NODEX compares Bulgarian гадкам (gadkam),^[9] a dialect form that ESSJa lists under Proto-Slavic *gādàti.^[10][11] Tiktin calls the link with the Slavic verbs doubtful.^[2] Wiktionary also mentions a Germanic source, Gothic or Gepidic, going back to Proto-Germanic *gitisōną, the source of English guess.^[1] Ciorănescu rejects the derivation from ghioc proposed by Laurian and kept by Scriban.^[8]

Ciorănescu sets beside it Aromanian angucescu,^[8][12] whose origin Papahagi leaves open^[13] and which Pascu ties to Bulgarian words for riddles.^[14]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is in the Palia de la Orăștie (1581–1582), in the story of Joseph (Genesis 41:16).^[2] In 1649 Mardarie's lexicon has gîcesc as the Romanian for a Slavonic verb meaning “I practise divination”.^[5] MDA2 gives a much later first record, Bărac's tale of Arghir of 1852.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Divination and guessing go together from the start: the old texts use the verb for foretelling the future, as in „le vrăjia și le gâcia” “they cast spells on them and divined by them” of the Greeks and their sacred trees, and for solving a riddle, as in the Bible of 1688.^[2] Modern Romanian keeps both, and adds working something out by intuition or deduction, the adverbial phrase pe ghicite “at a guess” and a reflexive “to be dimly visible”.^[6][3][9] The derivatives are ghicitor “fortune-teller”, ghicitoare “fortune-teller; riddle”, also the name of the autumn crocus, ghicitură and ghiceală “riddle”.^[8] Place and personal names such as Ghicea and Gâcia are formed on the verb.^[15]

Timeline

• c. 1581-1582 – first record, in the Palia de la Orăștie.^[2]
• 1649 – gîcesc in Mardarie's Slavonic–Romanian lexicon.^[5]
• 1688 – să gâcească gâcitoarea “to guess the riddle” in the Bucharest Bible.^[2]
• 1852 – ghici in Bărac's tale of Arghir, MDA2's first record.^[3]
• 1893–1895 – Damé glosses it French deviner.^[16]

Meanings

Verb

1. To guess, to find out or understand something by intuition or deduction; to foresee, to glimpse: pe ghicite “at a guess”.^[6][1]
2. To solve a riddle.^[6][3]
3. (superstition) To tell someone's fortune, to predict the future.^[6][3]
4. (reflexive) To be dimly visible.^[3][9]

Word family

• ghicitor
• ghicitoare
• ghicitură

Related words

• Aromanian angucescu

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. ghici
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, 991
4. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. ghici
5. ^ a b c 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. gîcesc
6. ^ a b c d e DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 437
7. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 274
8. ^ a b c d 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. ghici
9. ^ a b c Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. ghici
10. ^ Trubačev, Oleg N.; Žuravlev, Anatolij F.; Varbot, Žanna Ž. (eds.) (1974–2021), Ètimologičeskij slovar' slavjanskix jazykov: praslavjanskij leksičeskij fond, vols. 1–42, Moskva: Nauka, p. 6, 77
11. ^ Derksen, Rick (2008), Etymological Dictionary of the Slavic Inherited Lexicon, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 4, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 160
12. ^ Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net), p. 76
13. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 108
14. ^ Pascu, Giorge (1925), Dictionnaire étymologique macédoroumain, 2 vols. (I: Les éléments latins et romans; II: Les éléments grecs, turcs, slaves, albanais, germaniques, magyars, néologismes, créations immédiates, obscurs), Iași: Cultura Națională, p. 2, 179
15. ^ Constantinescu, N. A. (1963), Dicționar onomastic romînesc, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. s.v. ghici
16. ^ Damé, Frédéric (1893–1895), Nouveau dictionnaire roumain-français, 4 vols., Bucarest: Imprimerie de l'État, p. s.v. ghici