leac

Forms

leac n (plural leacuri)^[1] An old plural leacure occurs in the Govora Pravila of 1640: „nu iau nice erbi, nice leacure” “they take neither herbs nor remedies”.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Old Church Slavonic лѣкъ (lěkŭ, “medicine, remedy”), from the Old Church Slavonic of the church and chancery: DER, MDA2, DEX, the DA and DLR and Tiktin agree on it.^{[4][3][5][2][6]} The word has relatives across Slavic: DER cites the Bulgarian, Croatian, Slovene, Ruthenian and Serbian forms and Polish lek, and the Bulgarian one is лек (lek).^[4][7] Megleno-Romanian has it too, Megleno-Romanian leac;^[8] Capidan derives that form from Bulgarian.^[4][8]

The Slavic word goes back to Proto-Slavic *lěkъ.^[1] Vasmer considers it a borrowing from Germanic, comparing the Gothic and Old English words for “physician”, and Wiktionary traces it to Proto-Germanic *lēkijaz;^[9][1][10] Cihac had already pointed to Gothic in 1879.^[9][1][10] Mladenov and Skok took the Slavic word instead as inherited, first meaning “spell, enchantment”.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is in the Pravila of Lucaci, 1581.^[6] The DLR quotes it: „Iară de va mânca drept leacul” “but if he eats it as a remedy”, of meat eaten in a fast.^[2] A zodiac of 1620 prescribes for a sick person „leac: floare de trandafir și rădăcină de bujor” “as a remedy: rose flowers and peony root”.^[2] MDA2 dates the word only from the Govora Pravila of 1640.^[3]

Semantic evolution

From the 17th century on the word is common in religious and learned texts: Mardarie's Slavonic–Romanian lexicon of 1649 has leacul, and the Bucharest Bible of 1688 uses leac and leacurile for healing and remedies.^[11][12][13] Today it is a popular word, often for home and folk remedies (leacuri băbești), beside the learned medicament; in Transylvania, Maramureș and northern Bukovina it is the usual word, where the other regions say doctorie.^[5][3][14]

A second sense, “a tiny bit”, lives in negative phrases: nici de leac “not a bit”, fără leac de “without a trace of”.^[5][2] Tiktin explains it as “as little as a home remedy needs” and compares Serbian liečak “very little”, a diminutive of the word for “remedy”; the DA explains it as a confusion with leacă “a little”.^[6][15] The verb lecui “to heal” is from Old Church Slavonic лѣковати (lěkovati) or formed on leac.^[4]

Timeline

• 1581 – leacul in the Pravila of Lucaci, the first record.^[6][2]
• 1620 – leac in a zodiac.^[2]
• 1640 – the plural leacure in the Govora Pravila.^[3][2]
• 1649 – leacul in Mardarie's Slavonic–Romanian lexicon.^[11]
• 1688 – leac, leacul and leacurile in the Bucharest Bible.^[12]
• 1801 – Klein's dictionary glosses it with doftorie and Latin medicina.^[16]

Meanings

Noun

1. (popular) a remedy, medicine or treatment for an illness;^[5][3][1] iarbă (buruiană) de leac: a medicinal herb;^[5][3][1] a da de leac: to find the right cure;^[5][3][1] a găsi cuiva leacul: to find the way to deal with someone.^[5][3][1]
2. (in negative phrases) a tiny bit: nici de leac “not at all”, fără (de) leac de “without a trace of”.^[5][2]

Word family

• lecui
• lecuitor
• lecuință
• lecuială
• nelecuit

Related words

• leacă
• Old Church Slavonic лѣкъ (lěkŭ)

Usage notes

Proverbs with the word include Nu e boală fără leac “there is no illness without a cure” and Nu-i leacul cu sacul “a remedy is not measured by the sack”.^[6][17]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. leac
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, 1331
4. ^ 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. leac
5. ^ a b c d e f g h DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 582
6. ^ a b c d e Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. leac
7. ^ Georgiev, Vladimir I. et al. (eds.) (1971–), Bălgarski etimologičen rečnik, Sofija: Izdatelstvo na Bălgarskata akademija na naukite, p. 3, 351
8. ^ a b Capidan, Theodor (1935), Meglenoromânii III: Dicționar meglenoromân, București: Academia Română, p. 167
9. ^ a b Vasmer, Max (1964–1973), Ètimologičeskij slovar' russkogo jazyka, transl. and suppl. by O. N. Trubačev, 4 vols., Moskva: Progress
10. ^ a b Cihac, A. de (1879), Dictionnaire d'étymologie daco-romane II: Éléments slaves, magyars, turcs, grecs-moderne et albanais, Frankfurt am Main, p. 166
11. ^ a b 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. leacul
12. ^ a b Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Ps 37:7
13. ^ Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Ex 21:19
14. ^ Ștef, Dorin (2021), Dicționar de regionalisme și arhaisme din județul Maramureș, 3rd ed., Baia Mare, p. s.v. leac
15. ^ 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. leac
16. ^ Gáldi, László (ed.) (1944), Samuel Klein: Dictionarium valachico-latinum. Primul dicționar al limbii române, Budapest: Királyi Magyar Pázmány Péter Tudományegyetemi Román Intézet (Klein's dictionary of 1801, with Gáldi's etymological study), p. 389
17. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. leac