Continuing with my Romanian alphabet, first up today is coasă (pronounced co-asa):
This is another word derived from the Slavic. In Bulgarian, it looks like this: кося (pronounced kos-ya?) and it means ‘scythe’. This is of one of our neighbours cutting fodder for his animals, which was later thrown into a stack (capiță) by the women of the family. That’s what the wooden structure is for – to support it.
Here’s the completed stack:
Also on the cutting theme is one of my favourite Romanian words. May I present the ‘cuts-it’!
The Romanian word is actually cuțit, where the ț is pronounced ‘ts’ and the u like the ‘oo’ in ‘book’. (Folks in Yorkshire get a head start in learning this word!)
Interestingly, our word ‘cut’ is thought to be Germanic and is related to the Norwegian kutta (to cut) and the Icelandic kuta (to cut with a small knife) and kuti (a small, blunt knife). The word ‘knife’ also comes from Norse origins. However, cuțit and the French couteau are thought to be related to the Latin acutus (sharp, pointed, acute) and/or culter/cultellus (sword/dagger). All of which makes me wonder if the word ‘cut’ in some form has been around for a very long time!
My third word returns to the cottage farming theme. It’s capră:
This is another of our neighbours. She and her mother have provided us with plenty of entertainment, suddenly taking it into their heads to caper around the yard or nose over the fence to see if what we have tastes better than what they have. Apparently, honeysuckle is very good!
Ripples in the Wind 