# cocoană



## seitt

Greetings

I'm interested in the word cocoană as it exists as a loan word in both my specialist languages (Greek and Turkish). Please could you translate this definition for me as literally as possible so I can understand the Romanian?
odinioară, fiică de Domn: Doamna ceru doi juni din Fanar, pe care să-i facă gineri la ale sale două cocoane
(from ‘Dex Online’)

I think Fanar must be a part of Istanbul, now "Fener".

Best wishes, and many thanks,

Simon


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## féebleue

Hello,

First, some historical clarifications:
- as you said, Fanar is a part of Istanbul. As you can see here: 





> During the Ottoman period, the Greek inhabitants of Fener were called "Phanariotes" and were important assistants to the Sultan in various capacities and offices. *Wealthy Phanariotes were appointed* as governors over provinces in Turkish Europe and Greece, and *as **hospodars of Wallachia and Moldavia** between 1711 and 1821*.



-„Hospodar” is a Slavic term that we don't use in Romanian (at least in modern Romanian). We use the Latin term _D__omn. _So, in the definition you quoted, _Domn _means „ruler of Wallachia or Moldavia”. _Doamna _is the wife of the _Domn_, and _cocoană _is their daughter. Specifically, the definition says:

cocoană = (archaically) daughter of a _Domn_. Example: _Doamna _(the wife) asked for two young men from Fener to wed her two _cocoane _(daughters).

Regards,


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## seitt

Many thanks, truly superb.

The only bit I'm still a bit doubtful about is "la ale sale" - please could you explain what these words mean? I think 'la' is at/to, isn't it?


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## arcasul

Hello,
"la ale sale" means "to hers/his"...like for ex. "s-a intors la ale sale treburi"="went back to her/his previous activity"...

Hope that works for you. Don't hesitate to ask if  you'll need more info.

BR


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## seitt

Many thanks, most useful - could you please explain a bit more what _ale _is in your example and the original sentence?
la = to
sale = his (neuter pl. definite)
treburi = neuter plural of treábă, a feminine noun (I think the word changes gender in the plural, doesn't it?)
So that just leaves ‘ale’ that I don't understand (I think!). It doesn't seem to be necessary to the sentence at first glance.


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## farscape

(I'll have to split this discussion into two threads over the weekend, we now have two different topics )

A very quick answer, just to point out an idea: think of "ale" as playing the same part as "to" in this example "To whom do these books belong? They belong to me" (Ale cui sunt aceste cărți? Ele sunt ale mele)

Later,
f.


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## seitt

Much obliged!


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