scânteia

Forms

scânteia (third-person singular present scânteiază, past participle scânteiat), first conjugation^[1] Heliade used the old form schinteia: „Și schinteie oțelul” “and the steel throws sparks”.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is a verb from Romanian scânteie (“spark”).^{[4][5][3][6][2]} The noun continues Vulgar Latin *scantilia, a form of Latin scintilla (“spark”) with ⟨a⟩ that Pușcariu explained by the influence of excandere (“to kindle”) and Densusianu by Albanian skendilje.^[6]

Wiktionary also allows a Vulgar Latin verb *scantiliāre, from scintillō (“to sparkle”).^[1] Papahagi derives Aromanian scãntiljedz “to sparkle” from such a Latin verb.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is a text of 1703.^[5] MDA2 and the DLR quote Dimitrie Cantemir's Istoria ieroglifică (1705), where a star, small and far away as it is, „lumineadză și scânteiadză” “shines and sparkles”.^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

The verb has two senses, which the dictionaries order differently: to throw out sparks, as a fire, a sword or a horseshoe on stones does, and to glimmer like a spark or to shine brightly.^[4][2][3] A folk song has the horse „Din picioare scânteind” “throwing sparks from its hooves”.^[5][2] Said of the eyes, it means to look keenly under a strong feeling.^[4][3] Rarely it is transitive, “to strike sparks from”, and regionally the reflexive schinteia means “to get burned”.^[2][3]

Timeline

• 1703 – the first record.^[5]
• 1705 – scânteiadză “sparkles” in Cantemir's Istoria ieroglifică.^[3][2]
• 1818 – in Budai-Deleanu's lexicon.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. (intransitive) To sparkle or glimmer like a spark; to shine.^[4][1]
2. (intransitive, of the eyes) To look keenly, lit up by a strong feeling.^[4][3]
3. (intransitive) To throw out sparks.^[4][3]
4. (reflexive, regional, in the form schinteia) To get burned.^[3][2]

Related words

• scânteie
• sclipi
• Aromanian scãntiljedz

Usage notes

Scânteia is also the articled singular of scânteie “spark”, and the name of communes in the counties of Ialomița and Iași.^[1] The e and i of the stem are pronounced in separate syllables.^[4]

References

1. ^ a b c d 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. scânteia
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 798
4. ^ 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. 987
5. ^ 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. scânteia
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. scânteie
7. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 929