ici

Forms

ici^[1] A regional variant is icea.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin hīcce (“here”) according to DA, DEX and DELR, a form of hīc (“here”) with the deictic particle -ce; a form ice is found in a Christian inscription.^[4][2][3] Wiktionary writes the Latin form hice.^[1] Candrea–Densusianu and Ciorănescu treat it instead as aici with its first vowel dropped, and DELR gives both views.^[4][5]

The Latin adverb was an old locative of the stem of the demonstrative pronoun meaning “this”.^[4] The same Latin form lives on in Italian ci and in Romance compounds with Vulgar Latin *eccum, such as Dalmatian čaiko.^[4] The standard adverb adds an initial ⟨a-⟩, explained either as the strengthening element of acest and acel or as the preposition a.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR's first record of ici is from a document of 1600, and of the variant icea from 1593.^[4] The DA quotes the pair de ici, de colea “from here and there” from the Mărgăritare of 1691.^[6]

Semantic evolution

The word means the same as aici, but it is popular and regional rather than standard.^[2][1] Repeated or paired with colo or colea it gives the phrases ici și colo, pe ici, pe colo and ba ici, ba colo “here and there, in scattered places”, which can also refer to time, “now and then”.^[6][3] Hunters call their dogs with ici, ici!^[6] The 19th-century poets used it in literary verse: Grigore Alexandrescu wrote „Ici, umbre de noroade le vezi ocârmuite De umbra unor pravili” “Here you see the shades of peoples ruled by the shade of laws”.^[6][3]

Timeline

• 1593 – the variant icea.^[4]
• 1600 – ici in a document, DELR's first record.^[4]
• 1660 – ici in a 17th-century Slavonic–Romanian lexicon.^[7]
• 1691 – de ici, de colea in the Mărgăritare.^[6]
• 1863 – ici in Grigore Alexandrescu's poems, MDA2's first record.^[3]

Meanings

Adverb

1. (popular, regional) here; the same as aici.^[2][3][1]
2. (Pe) ici, (pe) colo, ici și colo, ba ici, ba colo: here and there, from place to place, at wide intervals.^[2][3]
3. Ici și ici: somewhat, to some extent; also now and then.^[3][6]

Related words

• aici
• aci
• icea

Usage notes

MDA2 lists a separate ici-, a Turkish element meaning “servant, subordinate” in old court titles such as iciolan “page at the prince's court”.^[3][6]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 485
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 1102
4. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. aici
5. ^ 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. aici
6. ^ a b c d e f g 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. ici
7. ^ 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. ici