tocmai

Forms

tocmai adverb; popular variant tocma.^[2] Older and popular forms are tocma, atocma, întocma, regional togmai, tomna, toma and tuma.^[3][4][5] The Bucharest Bible of 1688 has tocma “equal”: „Acești de apoi un ceas lucrară și i-ai făcut tocma cu noi” “these last worked one hour, and you have made them equal to us” (Matthew 20:12).^[5] Cantemir has atocma: „Gâlceava lungă atocma ieste cu boala hronică” “a long quarrel is like a chronic illness”.^[5]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Old Church Slavonic тъкъма (tŭkŭma, “only, just”), a variant of тъкъмо (tŭkŭmo).^{[2][3][4][5][1][6]} Tiktin explains the final ⟨-i⟩ by the model of numai “only”, which also has a form ⟨numa⟩.^[5] The Slavonic adverb is formed from Proto-Slavic *tъkъ (“case, point”) with the suffix of *tъkъmo.^[1] Vasmer connects it with Russian точка (točka, “point”) and ткнуть (tknutʹ, “to poke”).^[7]

Its Slavic relatives include Bulgarian тъкмо (tǎkmo, “just, exactly”) and the church word Russian токмо (tokmo, “only”).^[7][3][1] Ciorănescu, after Miklosich, thinks that Ukrainian токма (tokma) was borrowed from Romanian.^[3] The verb tocmi “to arrange; to bargain” is a separate borrowing, from the Slavonic verb for “to make equal, to compare”.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is the Slavonic–Romanian Gospel book of 1551–1553 (Matthew 13:40).^[5] MDA2 dates it from Coresi's homilies of 1581, where it means “equally, in equal shares”: the father „împărți lor tocma” “divided it equally between them”.^[4][8]

Semantic evolution

The old meaning is “equal, alike, in the same measure”, used as an adverb and an adjective with the dative or with cu: „i-ai făcut tocma cu noi”.^[8][5] Coresi also has it as an adjective “level”, rendering Greek “flat” in Luke 6:17.^[5] This sense lives on in the derivative întocmai “exactly as”.^[5]

From “exactly equal” came the modern senses “exactly, precisely” and “just then, barely”, and with places “as far as, no nearer than”.^[2][4] Older texts also used it for “even”, often with și, and regionally nu tocmai meant “let alone”.^[4][5] Regionally a fi tocmai pe tocmai means “to be quits”.^[4]

Timeline

• 1551-1553 – first record, in the Slavonic–Romanian Gospel book.^[5]
• 1581 – tocma “equally” in Coresi's homilies.^[4][8]
• 1688 – tocma “equal” in the Bucharest Bible.^[5]
• 1782 – întocmai “exactly matching” in a manuscript.^[5]

Meanings

Adverb

1. exactly, precisely; colloquially tocmai pe tocmai “exactly so”.^[2][1]
2. just, at that very moment; barely: Tocmai am ajuns acasă.^[2][9]
3. As far as, no nearer than: Locuiește tocmai la capătul satului.^[2][4]
4. That very, so very; too: nu e tocmai ușor “it is not that easy”.^[2][4]
5. (dated) In the same measure, equally; alike.^[4][8]

Word family

• întocmai

Related words

• tocmi
• tocmeală
• întocmi
• numai

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. 1130
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. tocmai
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, 1234
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. tócmai
6. ^ Kurz, Josef; Hauptová, Zoe (eds.) (1958–1997), Slovník jazyka staroslověnského / Lexicon linguae palaeoslovenicae, 4 vols. + supplements, Praha: Academia; digital ed. gorazd.org
7. ^ a b Vasmer, Max (1964–1973), Ètimologičeskij slovar' russkogo jazyka, transl. and suppl. by O. N. Trubačev, 4 vols., Moskva: Progress, p. 4, 70
8. ^ a b c d Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. tocmai
9. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. tocmai