cearcăn
Romanian
Etymology
The exactly etymology is uncertain, but it is most often derived from Latin circinus (itself from Ancient Greek κίρκινος (kírkinos)), which however, should have normally yielded a *cercen or *cearcen in Romanian according to phonetic rules; some have sought to derive it from a cearcene, plural of the hypothetical *cearcen, by analogy with other words like gemene - geamăn, mesteceni - mesteacăn, cf. also leagăne - leagăn, etc. Alternatively, the word may have come instead from a Vulgar Latin *carcinus, from Ancient Greek καρκίνος (karkínos), which meant "crab" and "cancer", but also "a pair of compasses", which fits with one of the older senses of this word (but is also found in Latin circinus, from another Greek root). From here and through an early Romanian root *carcen, the form cearcăn could have been reached through a process of metathesis. It is also possible that the word is an internal derivation from cerc (“circle”) in Romanian[1]. Compare French cerne.
Noun
cearcăn n (plural cearcăne)
Related terms
References
- Romanian terms inherited from Latin
- Romanian terms derived from Latin
- Romanian terms derived from Ancient Greek
- Romanian terms inherited from Vulgar Latin
- Romanian terms derived from Vulgar Latin
- Romanian lemmas
- Romanian nouns
- Romanian countable nouns
- Romanian neuter nouns
- Romanian terms with archaic senses
- Romanian terms with obsolete senses