striga

Forms

striga (third-person singular present strigă, past participle strigat, third-person subjunctive strige) 1st conjugation^[1] Old texts also have the present strâg.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *strigō (“to screech like an owl”) in the most likely explanation, a verb formed on Latin strix (“screech owl”).^[3][2][1][4] Ciorănescu compares the French name of the owl, French chat-huant, from huer (“to shout”).^[3] The word survives south of the Danube as Megleno-Romanian strig.^[3][1]

Pascu's derivation from *stridulō is more doubtful, according to Ciorănescu, and Cihac's from *exquiritō does not seem possible.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is the imperative strigați “shout!” in the Psaltirea Voronețeană (about 1551–1558), in Psalm 97:6.^[5] MDA2 cites the Codicele Voronețean (about 1563–1583), where the crowd cry out, cast off their clothes and throw dust into the air (Acts 22).^[2][6]

Semantic evolution

The core sense is to shout or scream; from it come shouting at someone in anger, calling someone by name, announcing something aloud, and the cries of animals and birds.^[7][2] Old Romanian also used it for loud lament, for crying out in praise of God, and for calling men up to the army.^[2][7]

In folk dance a striga is to call out the rhymed verses (strigături) that lead the dance.^[7][8][3] A striga catalogul is to call the roll in a school.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 1551–1558 – strigați in the Psaltirea Voronețeană, the first record.^[5]
• c. 1563–1583 – strigându in the Codicele Voronețean.^[2][6]
• 1570 – strigați and strigăm in Coresi's psalter.^[9]
• c. 1573–1578 – in the Psaltirea Scheiană (Psalm 37:9).^[8]
• 1688 – strigară and other forms in the Bucharest Bible.^[10][8]

Meanings

Verb

1. (intransitive) To shout, scream; to call for help.^[7][1]
2. (intransitive) Of animals and birds: to give their cry.^[7][2]
3. (transitive) To say something loudly; to demand or order aloud;^[7] (intransitive) to lament aloud.^[7]
4. (intransitive) To shout at someone, to speak harshly to them.^[7]
5. (transitive) To call someone by name;^[7] a striga catalogul “to call the roll”;^[7] (dated) to call up to the army.^[7]
6. (transitive) To make something known by announcing it aloud.^[7]
7. (transitive) To call someone by a nickname; impersonally, to be called.^[7]
8. (intransitive) To call out verses at a folk dance.^[7]

Word family

• strigăt
• strigător
• strigătură
• strigare

Related words

• strigoi
• strigă
• Megleno-Romanian strig
• Latin strix

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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, 1016
3. ^ a b c d e 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. striga
4. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 8319
5. ^ a b Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Ungureanu, Mădălina; Moruz, Alexandru et al., roPsalt: Re-evaluating the Sixteenth Century Romanian Psalters (aligned corpus), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. Ps 97:6
6. ^ a b Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. striga
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1060
8. ^ a b c Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. striga
9. ^ Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Ungureanu, Mădălina; Moruz, Alexandru et al., roPsalt: Re-evaluating the Sixteenth Century Romanian Psalters (aligned corpus), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. Ps 94:1
10. ^ Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Ieșirea 2:24