icã

Forms

icã^[1]

• Other spellings: i in Wiktionary;^[1] ÍCĂ in Papahagi's dictionary;^[2] ícă in Mihăileanu's Romanian-based spelling;^[3] ică in Dalametra^[4] and in the glossary to P. Papahagi's tales;^[5] ικά, read ikā, in Nikolaidis's Greek script.^[6]

Etymology

Papahagi's dictionary explains it, with a question mark, as from Aromanian i (“or”) + cã (“that”),^[2] and the glossary to P. Papahagi's tales gives the same explanation without the doubt.^[5] Cunia lists i among its synonyms,^[7] and Papahagi derives cã from Latin quod.^[8] Wiktionary gives the origin as unknown.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The oldest dictionary to record it, Mihăileanu's of 1901, glosses it with Romanian sau "or".^[3]

Semantic evolution

It joins two words or clauses of which the second is an alternative to the first.^[7] Dalametra and Nikolaidis illustrate it with "I or you",^[4][6] and Mihăileanu with a choice between wanting and not wanting.^[3]

Timeline

• 1901 – ícă “or” in Mihăileanu's dictionary.^[3]
• 1905 – ică “or”, explained as i + că, in the glossary to P. Papahagi's tales.^[5]
• 1906 – ică “or” in Dalametra's dictionary.^[4]
• 1909 – ικά “or” in Nikolaidis's dictionary.^[6]

Meanings

Conjunction

1. or, or else.^[7][2][1]

Usage notes

Nikolaidis's γικά (yika) "collar" and Cunia's yicã, which he refers to yeacã, are another word, of Turkish origin.^[9][10]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 570
3. ^ a b c d Mihăileanu, Ștefan (1901), Dicționar macedo-român, București, p. 243
4. ^ a b c Dalametra, I. (1906), Dicționar macedo-român, București: Academia Română, p. 109
5. ^ a b c Papahagi, Pericle (1905), Basme aromâne și glosar, București: Academia Română, p. 616
6. ^ a b c Νικολαΐδης, Κωνσταντίνος (1909), Ετυμολογικόν λεξικόν της κουτσοβλαχικής γλώσσης, Αθήνα, p. 176
7. ^ a b c Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net), p. 553
8. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 253
9. ^ Νικολαΐδης, Κωνσταντίνος (1909), Ετυμολογικόν λεξικόν της κουτσοβλαχικής γλώσσης, Αθήνα, p. 132
10. ^ Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net), p. 1108