kacagjel

Albanian

Etymology

From kaca- +‎ gjel (“rooster, cock”).[1][2] Given that boastfulness is a characteristic usually ascribed to roosters rather than ants, it seems that sense 2 developed parallelly from the original meaning of gjel rather than from sense 1.

Noun

kacagjel m (plural kacagjela, definite kacagjeli)

  2. large dark-red ant. carpenter ant (Camponotus)
    Synonym: kaposh
  4. (derogatory) haughty, bumptious person
    Synonym: mburravec

Derived terms

  • kacagjelohem
  • kacagjelthi

Adverb

kacagjel

  1. (derogatory) haughtily, bumptiously
    Synonym: kacagjelthi
    rri kacagjel ― (please add an English translation of this usage example)
    ecën kacagjel ― (please add an English translation of this usage example)

References

  1. ^ Orel, Vladimir E. (1998) “kacagjel”, in Albanian Etymological Dictionary, Leiden, Boston, Köln: Brill, →ISBN, page 161
  2. ^ Krimpas, P. G. (2021) “On the Modern Greek Origin of the Albanian KACA-prefixoids”, in Porta Balkanica, →ISSN, page 6

Further reading

  • “kacagjel”, in FGJSH: Fjalor i gjuhës shqipe [Dictionary of the Albanian language] (in Albanian), 2006
  • FGJSSH: Fjalor i gjuhës së sotme shqipe [Dictionary of the modern Albanian language]‎[1], 1980
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