orbecăi

Forms

orbecăi (third-person singular present orbecăiește, past participle orbecăit) 4th conjugation^[1] Cantemir writes the variant orbăcăi: of the bat he says that „dzua orbăcăiește” “by day it gropes about”.^[2]

Etymology

It is formed from Romanian orbeca + -ăi, a verb in the expressive suffix -ăi built on the older verb with the same meaning.^[3][4][1] The older verb is formed on the adjective orb “blind”, which is inherited from Latin orbus (“bereaved, deprived”).^[3][5]

Ciorănescu lists the verb among the derivatives of the adjective and explains it with an expressive suffix -căi; he notes that Scriban took it for a purely expressive word, while Pușcariu and Candrea–Densusianu traced orbeca to Vulgar Latin *orbicō.^[5][6] Wiktionary also names the Vulgar Latin verb as a possibility.^[1] Tiktin simply puts the verb with the adjective.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Dosoftei's lives of the saints, in the volume for December, which Tiktin dates to 1683 and MDA2 to the edition of 1682–1686; the sense is already “to grope one's way”.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

The verb has kept the sense of walking as the blind do, feeling one's way in the dark, and is used for anyone who wanders about without seeing where he goes.^[3][7] Tiktin quotes it for the blind man of the game baba-oarba, who gropes with his arms held out to catch one of the children.^[2]

The simple verb orbeca, first recorded in Cantemir's Istoria ieroglifică (1704), is now old and regional, while the longer form is the common one.^[4][3]

Timeline

• 1683 – orbecăi in Dosoftei's lives of the saints, the first record.^[2]
• 1704 – the simple verb orbeca in Cantemir's Istoria ieroglifică.^[4][8]
• 1705 – orbăcăiește “gropes about”, said of the bat, in Cantemir.^[2]
• c. 1800 – orbeca in Budai-Deleanu.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To grope one's way, to walk about fumbling in the dark like a blind person; synonymous with bâjbâi and dibui: Am orbecăit prin pivniță până am găsit ușa.^[3][4][1]

Word family

• orbecăială

Related words

• orb
• orbeca
• orbi

Usage notes

The present is either orbécăi or orbecăiesc.^[3] The variant orbăcăi is used by Ispirescu and other writers.^[7][3]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. orbecăi
3. ^ a b c d e f g DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1, 748
4. ^ a b c d e Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 221
5. ^ 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. orb
6. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Densusianu, Ov. (1907–1914), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române: elementele latine (A–Putea), București, p. s.v. orbeca
7. ^ a b Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 3, 278
8. ^ Costinescu, Mariana; Georgescu, Magdalena; Zgraon, Florentina (1987), Dicționarul limbii române literare vechi (1640–1780): termeni regionali, București: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică, p. 1, 214