ochi

Forms

ochi m (plural ochi)^[1] Verb: ochi, present ochesc, fourth conjugation.^[2][1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin oclus, from Latin oculus (“eye”).^[1][3][4][5] De Vaan traces the Latin word to a derivative of Proto-Indo-European *h₃ekʷ- (“eye; to see”).^[6][1]

It survives in all four branches: Aromanian oclju, Megleno-Romanian oclʼu and Istro-Romanian oclʼu.^{[3][7][8][9][10]} Its Romance cognates include Italian occhio, French œil, Spanish ojo and Portuguese olho.^[3] Pușcariu connected the senses “buttonhole” and “pool of water” with Old Church Slavonic окно (okno, “window”), a link Ciorănescu calls unnecessary.^[3][11]

The verb, present tense ochesc, “to aim; to eye” is formed from the noun.^[2][3][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

MDA2's first record is the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki of the early 16th century, in the sense “eye”.^[4] The psalter has ochii “the eyes” already in Psalm 5.^[12] The verb is first recorded in the Anonymus Caransebesiensis, a Romanian–Latin glossary of about 1650–1700.^[4][13]

Semantic evolution

From the organ the word passed to sight and the look, and then to many things shaped like an eye or an opening: a window pane, a buttonhole, a pool in a marsh, a clearing, a link of a chain, the mesh of a net, a spot on a peacock's tail, a pip on dice, a fried egg.^[3][2] For the senses other than the eye itself, the pip and the space between two bridge piers, the plural is the neuter ochiuri.^[3][2] Ciorănescu and Graur note many idioms shared with Greek, such as de ochii lumii “for show”, literally “for the eyes of the world”, and the fried egg called “eye”.^[3]

The verb first meant “to make out with one's eyes, to look”; the sense “to aim a weapon” follows the phrase a pune la ochi.^[4][2] Tiktin glosses it as “to take aim at someone” and, figuratively, “to cast an eye on someone”.^[13] The derivatives include deochi “evil eye” and deochia “to cast the evil eye on”, a word Ciorănescu says is known everywhere, ochitor “marksman”, ochios “big-eyed” and ochișor.^[3]

Timeline

• early 16th century – ochii “the eyes” in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki.^[4][12]
• c. 1563 – in the Codicele Voronețean.^[14]
• 1649 – in Mardarie's Slavonic–Romanian lexicon.^[15]
• c. 1650–1700 – the verb ochi in the Anonymus Caransebesiensis.^[4][13]

Meanings

Noun

1. eye: each of the two organs of sight, with the eyeball, lids and lashes; the eye of an animal or insect.^[2][4][1]
2. Sight, the faculty of seeing; a look, a glance.^[2]
3. (neuter, plural ochiuri) A window pane, or the space in the frame that holds it.^[2]
4. (neuter) A round patch of water, sand or snow different from its surroundings; a pool in a marsh.^[2][3]
5. An eyelet in a sail, a tent or a net through which a rope passes; a mesh.^[2][3]
6. (neuter) A ring of a cooking stove, on which pots are set over the flame.^[2][1]
7. (neuter, usually plural) Fried eggs with whole yolks.^[2][3]
8. A bud on the node of a vine.^[2]
9. A coloured spot on a peacock's tail; a pip on dice or playing cards.^[2][3]

Verb

1. To aim a weapon at a target; to hit the target.^[2][1][13]
2. To pick someone or something out with one's eyes, to set one's sights on; to notice; to look at closely, to scrutinize.^[2][4][1]
3. (regional) Of snowfields, to get dark or green patches as the snow melts.^[2]

Word family

• deochi
• deochia
• ochete
• ochios
• ochișor
• ochitor

Related words

• ochelari
• oacheș
• Aromanian oclju
• Latin oculus

Usage notes

Common phrases: între patru ochi “in private”, cu ochii închiși “easily, blindfold”, a pune ochii pe “to set one's eyes on”, a lua la ochi “to suspect”.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 733
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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. ochi
4. ^ 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. 2, 191
5. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 6038
6. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
7. ^ Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net), p. 772
8. ^ 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. 1, 136
9. ^ Kovačec, August (1998), Istrorumunjsko-hrvatski rječnik (s gramatikom i tekstovima), Pula
10. ^ Popovici, Iosif (1909), Dialectele romîne din Istria II: texte și glosar, Halle a. S., p. 130
11. ^ Georgiev, Vladimir I. et al. (eds.) (1971–), Bălgarski etimologičen rečnik, Sofija: Izdatelstvo na Bălgarskata akademija na naukite, p. 4, 838
12. ^ a b 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 5:5
13. ^ a b c d Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. ochí
14. ^ Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. ochi
15. ^ 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. ochi