scutec

Forms

scutec n (plural scutece)^[1] An older and eastern variant is scutic, plural scutice: an old regulation quoted in the DLR requires that every child given to a nurse have „două rânduri de scutice” “two sets of swaddling cloths”.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

Its origin is uncertain.^[5][1] DLR calls it unknown and NODEX of uncertain origin.^[2][6] The usual explanation, given by Miklosich, Cihac and Tiktin, connects it with Old Church Slavonic скоутъ (skutŭ, “hem or skirt of a garment”), compare Serbo-Croatian skut and Bulgarian скут (skut).^[5][7][8] DEX and MDA2 only compare Bulgarian скутак (skutak).^[9][4] Ciorănescu objects that ⟨-ec⟩ is not a productive suffix in Romanian, so that the Romanian form is not explained, and that the Bulgarian word cited by Candrea does not fit phonetically.^[5]

Ciorănescu finds the form closer to Latin scutica (“leather whip”), which he supposes was confused with the descendants of cutis (“skin”), as in *cutica, whence Italian cotica (“pork rind”); from a *scuticum “leather strap, skin” the sense could have passed to “cloth”, as in scoarță.^[5][10] Wiktionary sets out the same two proposals.^[1] The Latin word comes from Ancient Greek σκῦτος (skûtos, “hide, leather”).^[1][11]

It survives south of the Danube as Aromanian scutic (“coarse woollen cloth; swaddling cloth”), which Papahagi doubtfully refers to the same Slavonic word.^[12][5] Similar words occur in neighbouring languages: Albanian skutinë (“clothing”), Albanian skutë (“apron”) and Modern Greek σκουτί (skoutí, “coarse woollen cloth; clothes”).^[5][1][13]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Coresi's Carte de învățătură of 1581, where Christ is worshipped while still „în scutece” “in swaddling clothes”.^[7][2][4]

Semantic evolution

The word has always named the cloth in which a baby is wrapped.^[7][4] Dosoftei used it figuratively in 1683 for the mist that God wrapped round the sea „ca-n scutec” “as in swaddling clothes”, rendering the Vulgate's quasi pannis infantiae.^[7][2] The plural din scutece means “from birth, from childhood”, and figuratively the word names the first stage of something.^[4][3] Regional senses are “rug” and “apron”, and in popular speech a fi lovit cu scutecul is “to be simple-minded”.^[4] Today it also translates “nappy, diaper”.^[1]

Timeline

• 1581 – în scutece in Coresi's Carte de învățătură, the first record.^[7][4]
• 1683 – ca-n scutec in Dosoftei.^[2]
• 1688 – scutece in the Bucharest Bible, Wisdom 7:4.^[14]
• 1825 – Scutecu in the Lexicon de la Buda, glossed with Latin pannulus involvendo infanti.^[15]

Meanings

Noun

1. A swaddling cloth: a piece of linen, flannel or piqué, usually rectangular, in which a baby is wrapped; a nappy.^[9][1]
2. din scutece “straight after birth; from childhood”: Îl cunosc din scutece.^[4]
3. (figurative) The first stage of something, a beginning.^[4]
4. (regional) A rug; an apron.^[4]

Related words

• pelincă
• fașă
• Aromanian scutic

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. scutec
3. ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1, 1181
4. ^ 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, 834
5. ^ a b c d e f 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. scutec
6. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. scutec
7. ^ 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. scutec
8. ^ Cihac, A. de (1879), Dictionnaire d'étymologie daco-romane II: Éléments slaves, magyars, turcs, grecs-moderne et albanais, Frankfurt am Main
9. ^ a b DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 996
10. ^ Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
11. ^ 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
12. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne
13. ^ Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
14. ^ Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Wisdom 7:4
15. ^ Lesicon românescu-latinescu-ungurescu-nemțescu quare de mai mulți autori, în cursul a trideci și mai multor ani s-au lucrat (1825), Buda: Typographia Universității (the Lexicon of Buda, ed. Petru Maior et al.), p. 626