Etymologically
Log in

cali

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 26 October 2026 at 05:27. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Forms

cali f (plural cãljuri or cheiur, definite singular calea or cala)[1]

  • Cunia heads it cali/cale, plural cãljuri;[2] Wiktionary also has cale.[1]
  • Other spellings: CALE in Papahagi's dictionary;[3] câli in Dalametra's Romanian-based spelling;[4] Cale in Papahagi's glossary of his tales.[5] Pascu gives the plural căl’uri and, among the Fărșerots, cal’.[6]
  • Regional forms: k’ali, plural k’āl’ur, in Turia;[7] cále, plural cắĺuri, in Metsovo;[8] cáli in the glossary of the ALAR atlas.[9]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin callis (“rough track, path”),[3][6][1] a Latin word for a rough track or mountain path.[10][11] Its further origin is unclear: de Vaan reconstructs Proto-Italic *kalni- or *kalsi- with a question mark, and finds a link with callum (“hard skin”) plausible.[12]

The word is common to the four Eastern Romance languages: Romanian cale, Megleno-Romanian cali and Istro-Romanian cǫle.[13][14] Romanian and Dalmatian share the further sense "time, occasion".[15][16] Further west it survives in Italian calle, Catalan call and Spanish calle.[13][15]

Earliest recorded meaning

The oldest dated record is Boiagi's grammar of 1813, one of Pascu's sources for the word, which also has the derivative călătorie "journey".[6][17]

Semantic evolution

The Latin word meant a narrow track or path.[10] In Aromanian it is the general word for a road or way, and a street in a town;[18][3] it also means a journey, and Dalametra records am câli and l-au câli "I travel, I set out".[4] Figuratively it is the right way: good sense, sound judgement, what is fitting.[18][3] As in Romanian it also means "time, occasion", as in ună cale "once".[16][6] Papahagi quotes o cálea máre "he took the high road" for someone dying,[3] and the ALAR glossary records "he took the road to Grevena", the town where death sentences were carried out under the Ottomans, with the same meaning; there the word also names the gap between the front teeth.[9]

Timeline

  • 1813 – used in Boiagi's grammar, as cited by Pascu.[6][17]
  • 1905 – Cale “road” in Papahagi's glossary of his tales.[5]
  • 1906 – câli in Dalametra's dictionary.[4]
  • 1925 – Pascu derives it from Latin callis.[6]
  • 2005 – k’ali in the dictionary of Turia.[7]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A road, path or way.[18][3][1]
  2. A street in a town.[18]
  3. A journey; travelling.[3][4]
  4. (figurative) Good sense, sound judgement; the right course.[18][3]
  5. A time, occasion: ună cale “once”.[16][3]
  6. (regional) A gap between the front teeth.[9]
  • Romanian cale

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net), p. 229
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Papahagi, Tache (1974), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, 2nd augmented ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. 307
  4. ^ a b c d Dalametra, I. (1906), Dicționar macedo-român, București: Academia Română, p. 47
  5. ^ a b Papahagi, Pericle (1905), Basme aromâne și glosar, București: Academia Română, p. 555
  6. ^ a b c d e f Pascu, Giorge (1925), Dictionnaire étymologique macédoroumain, 2 vols. (I: Les éléments latins et romans; II: Les éléments grecs, turcs, slaves, albanais, germaniques, magyars, néologismes, créations immédiates, obscurs), Iași: Cultura Națională, p. 1, 56
  7. ^ a b Бара, Мариана; Каль, Теде; Соболев, Андрей Н. (2005), Южноарумынский говор села Турия (Малый диалектологический атлас балканских языков, серия монографий 1), p. 321
  8. ^ Δασούλας, Φώτης (2013), Το βλαχικό ιδίωμα του Μετσόβου, 2nd ed.
  9. ^ a b c Saramandu, Nicolae (2023), Glosar aromân, Fonetică și dialectologie XLII: 103–176, p. 118
  10. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  11. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  12. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  13. ^ 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)
  14. ^ Capidan, Theodor (1935), Meglenoromânii III: Dicționar meglenoromân, București: Academia Română, p. 56
  15. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  16. ^ a b c Candrea, I.-A.; Densusianu, Ov. (1907–1914), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române: elementele latine (A–Putea), București
  17. ^ a b Caragiu Marioțeanu, Matilda et al. (1997), Dicționar aromân (macedo-vlah) DIARO, A–D, București, p. 54
  18. ^ a b c d e Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net)