caracatiță
Romanian
[edit]
Etymology
[edit]Attested c. 1650 as cracatiță.[1]
Of Slavic origin, cf. Bulgarian кракатица (krakatica, “cuttlefish”), Serbo-Croatian karakatnica (“octopus”), Ukrainian каракатиця (karakatycja, “cuttlefish”), Russian каракатица (karakatica, “cuttlefish”), Czech krakatice (“squid”). The form and early date make Bulgarian the likely source language; Ukrainian is also a possibility.[2]
The base concept is кракат (“long-legged, having legs”), from крак (krak, “limb, leg of an aquatic animal”), cf. Romanian crac (“leg, forked branch”), but influenced also by Turkish kara (“black”).
Noun
[edit]caracatiță f (plural caracatițe)
- octopus (mollusc)
Declension
[edit]| singular | plural | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| indefinite | definite | indefinite | definite | ||
| nominative-accusative | caracatiță | caracatița | caracatițe | caracatițele | |
| genitive-dative | caracatițe | caracatiței | caracatițe | caracatițelor | |
| vocative | caracatiță, caracatițo | caracatițelor | |||
References
[edit]- ^ “caracatiță”, in Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române (in Romanian), București: Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti;
- ^ Gh. Ivănescu, Istoria limbii române. Iaşi, 1980, p. 438.