scai

Forms

scai m (plural scai)^[1]

Etymology

Its origin is disputed.^[2][1] Ciorănescu considers it probably inherited from Vulgar Latin *squaleus (“hard, untilled, dry”), a derivative of Latin squāleō (“to be rough, be covered with a rough layer”); the same Latin form is required by Spanish escajo and Portuguese escalheiro, and Romanian would continue it in a reduced form *scalius.^[2][3] The REW reconstructs the Latin adjective with the sense “untilled”, which the Spanish word keeps as “untilled field”, while the Portuguese one means “hawthorn”.^[4] Wiktionary also prefers the Latin explanation.^[1]

The older view, held by Cihac, Tiktin, Candrea and Scriban, takes it from Serbo-Croatian čkalj (“thistle”), and DEX and NODEX still give that source.^{[2][5][6][7][8]} Ciorănescu rejects it as phonetically impossible, and notes that the Romanian word would continue the Serbo-Croatian nominative.^[2] Tiktin also cites a Bosnian form škalj after Cihac.^[5] Diculescu's derivation from Ancient Greek σκαλίας (skalías), a word for the husk of a thistle-like plant, does not convince Ciorănescu either.^[2][9]

The word survives south of the Danube: Aromanian scăliu and Megleno-Romanian scal'.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is of 1535, from the Slavonic documents of the Romanian lands.^[5] The first Romanian text with the word is Coresi's Tetraevanghel of 1560–1561, in Matthew 7:16: „Au doară veți culege de în spin struguri sau de în scai smochine?” “Will you gather grapes from thorns, or figs from thistles?”^[5][10]

Semantic evolution

From the start the word named any plant with prickly flower heads: thistles, teasels and burdocks.^[5][2] Compounds tell the species apart: scai-vânăt is the blue eryngo (Eryngium planum), scaiul-dracului the field eryngo (Eryngium campestre), and scai-voinicesc the wild teasel or the globe thistle.^[7][5][10] The burrs that catch in sheep's wool gave the phrase a se ține scai de cineva or ca scaiul de oaie “to stick to someone like a burr”, used of a person who never leaves someone alone.^[5][11][7]

The derivative scăiecior means “goldfinch” in Transylvania as well as “thistle”: Ciorănescu and Scriban compare French chardonneret “goldfinch”, named after chardon “thistle”.^[2][6] Wiktionary records the modern sense “Velcro”.^[1]

Timeline

• 1535 – a record in the Slavonic charters of the Romanian lands, the first.^[5]
• 1560–1561 – scai “thistle” in Coresi's Tetraevanghel (Matthew 7:16).^[5][10]
• 1649 – Mardarie's Slavonic–Romanian lexicon.^[12]
• 1801 – Scaiu or Scaéte in Klein's dictionary.^[13]
• 1975 – DEX records scai “imitation leather”, a separate word.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. thistle: a name for several herbaceous plants with spiny leaves and round heads covered in hooked prickles that catch on clothes and wool; also the prickly head itself, a burr.^[7][10]
2. The spear thistle (Cirsium vulgare) and, regionally, other prickly plants of the daisy family (Carduus, Echinops).^[10][14]
3. (colloquial) Velcro.^[1]

Word family

• scăiecior
• scăiețos
• scaiete

Related words

• Aromanian scăliu

Usage notes

DEX has a second headword scai² (neuter), an imitation leather of plastic that stays supple and withstands changes of temperature, first recorded in DEX 1975.^[7][10] DEX gives it no etymology;^[7][15][16] Marcu takes it from English and French skai, and the DLR from English.^[7][15][16]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. scai
3. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 8197a
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. scai
6. ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1, 1164
7. ^ 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. 984
8. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. scai
9. ^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill
10. ^ a b c d e f g Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 787
11. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 4, 35
12. ^ 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. scai
13. ^ 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. 438
14. ^ Panțu, Zach. C. (1929), Plantele cunoscute de poporul român. Vocabular botanic cuprinzând numirile române, franceze, germane și științifice, 2nd ed., București: Editura Casei Școalelor, p. 267
15. ^ a b Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. scai
16. ^ a b Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. scai