maică

Forms

maică f (plural maici)^[1] The genitive-dative is maicii, in the old language and colloquially also maicăi, and regionally maichii; the vocative is maico or maică.^[2][3] With a possessive it forms maică-mea, maică-ta, maică-sa “my, your, his/her mother”, as in Dosoftei's psalter: „tată-mieu și maică-mea mă părăsâră” “my father and my mother forsook me”.^[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Bulgarian майка (majka, “mother”), with Serbo-Croatian majka named beside it as a source.^{[4][5][3][6][1]} Wiktionary explains the South Slavic word as an old diminutive of Proto-Slavic *mati (“mother”), from Proto-Indo-European *méh₂tēr;^[1] Tiktin takes it as a diminutive of Serbian maja, and Scriban traces it to Old Church Slavonic мати (mati).^[2][7]

It is also found south of the Danube: Aromanian maică and Megleno-Romanian maică, both taken from Bulgarian as well.^[6][8][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to a 16th-century psalter, at Psalm 130:2, where the weaned child rests with its mother.^[2] The psalter of Ciobanu (c. 1573–1585) has maica at Psalm 112.^[10] MDA2 dates the word to Moxa's chronicle of 1620: „Elu-și părăsi maică-sa de se duse în Țarigrad” “he left his mother and went to Constantinople”.^[3][5]

Semantic evolution

In the old texts maică is the ordinary word for “mother”, in law books, chronicles and the 1688 Bible.^[5][11] Today it is popular or familiar and regional;^[4][2] Tiktin notes that in Muntenia it is used in address where Moldavia says mamă.^[4][2] The 17th-century Slavonic–Romanian lexicons gloss Slavonic мати with it.^[12]

From “mother” came a title of respect for women: a menaion of 1698 calls a saint „prea cuvioasa maica noastră Theodora” “our most venerable mother Theodora”.^[2] The same use gave Maica Domnului “the Mother of God” and the title of a professed nun, maica as against the novice, soră.^[2][4] As a term of address it is used by a woman to her children or to younger people, and to speak politely to an older woman.^[4][3] Figuratively it means “source, origin”.^[4]

Regional and folk uses include “grandmother” (maică bătrână, maică bună, maică mare), “stepmother”, maica-calea and similar euphemisms for the plague, and the phrase de când maica m-a făcut “ever since I was born”.^[3][13]

Timeline

• c. 1573–1585 – maica in the Ciobanu psalter, the earliest dated record;^[10][2] Tiktin also cites a 16th-century psalter at Psalm 130:2.^[10][2]
• 1620 – maică-sa “his mother” in Moxa's chronicle.^[3][5]
• 1660 – Slavonic мати glossed maică in a Slavonic–Romanian lexicon.^[12]
• 1688 – maică and its forms more than a hundred times in the Bucharest Bible.^[11]
• 1698 – maica noastră as a title of a female saint, in a menaion.^[2]
• 1825 – Maica Precistă “the Mother of God” and maica biserică “Mother Church” in the Lexicon of Buda.^[14]

Meanings

Noun

1. (popular) mother: Maica Domnului or Maica Precista, the Virgin Mary.^[4][1]
2. A polite term for an older woman; an affectionate term with which a woman addresses her children or younger people: Vino, maică, la masă.^[4][3]
3. A nun; the title used in addressing her: maica stareță “the mother superior”.^[4][15]
4. (figurative, popular) Source, cause, origin.^[4]
5. (regional) grandmother; stepmother.^[3]

Word family

• măicuță
• măiculiță

Related words

• taică
• mamă
• Bulgarian майка (majka)

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. maică
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 1420
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1, 612
5. ^ a b c d Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. maică
6. ^ a b 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. maică
7. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 768
8. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 651
9. ^ Capidan, Theodor (1935), Meglenoromânii III: Dicționar meglenoromân, București: Academia Română, p. 179
10. ^ a b c Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Ungureanu, Mădălina; Moruz, Alexandru et al., roPsalt: Re-evaluating the Sixteenth Century Romanian Psalters (aligned corpus), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. Ps 112:8
11. ^ a b Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Judges 5:7
12. ^ 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. maică
13. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 3, 7
14. ^ 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. 368
15. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. maică