scoace

Forms

scoace (third-person singular present scoace, past participle scopt, third-person subjunctive scoacă), 3rd conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin excoquō (“to boil out, cook thoroughly”), in its spoken form *excocō, as Ciorănescu, DELR, Tiktin, MDA2, the DLR and Candrea–Densusianu agree.^{[2][3][4][5][6][7]} The Latin verb is formed ex- and coquō (“to cook”), the source of Romanian coace.^[1][8] Its Romance cognates include Spanish escocer (“to burn, smart”) and Occitan escozer.^[2][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR, Tiktin and MDA2 date it to 1834, in Manolache Drăghici's book on rural economy, where crowded colts are said to overheat and die.^[3][4][5]

Semantic evolution

The Latin sense “to cook thoroughly” lives on in heating too much: regional uses are to boil or cook too long and to overheat.^[5][3] Hay, straw and stacks of maize were said to heat up and catch fire.^[4][5] The main popular sense is in the dairy: to heat sour milk so that it curdles into cheese, or cream so that the butter separates.^[6][10] In Transylvania the reflexive is used of cheese that spoils in the heat.^[5]

Timeline

• 1834 – the first record, in Manolache Drăghici's book on rural economy.^[3][4][5]
• 1929 – Șăineanu glosses it as a Mnewavian word for warming cream by the fire to separate the butter.^[11]

Meanings

Verb

1. (popular) To heat sour milk so that it curdles into cheese; to heat cream so that the butter separates.^[6][5]
2. (regional) To cook or boil too long; to overheat.^[5][3]
3. (regional, reflexive) To ferment or spoil; of hay or straw, to heat up.^[5][12]

Usage notes

It is conjugated like coace: present scoc, past participle scopt.^[4][5]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. scoace
3. ^ a b c d e Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2011–), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române (DELR), vol. I: A–B (2011), vol. II: C (2015–2018), București: Editura Academiei Române; continued online at delr.lingv.ro, p. s.v. coace
4. ^ a b c d e Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. scoace
5. ^ 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, 812
6. ^ a b c Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. scoace
7. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Densusianu, Ov. (1907–1914), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române: elementele latine (A–Putea), București, p. s.v. scoace
8. ^ Graur, Alexandru (1980), Cuvinte înrudite, București: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică, p. 31
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 2985
10. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 4, 56
11. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 1, 575
12. ^ Academia Republicii Populare Romîne (1958), Dicționarul limbii romîne moderne, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1, 748