împătra

Forms

împătra (third-person singular present împătrează or împatră, past participle împătrat), first conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is probably inherited from Latin patrō (“to accomplish”), with the sense of impetrō (“to obtain”), as Bogrea proposed.^[2][1] MDA2 and DLRM reconstruct Vulgar Latin *impatrō, a form of the latter, and the REW lists the word under it.^[3][4][5] For the sense Ciorănescu compares an idiom with căpăta “to get”, meaning “to come to grief”.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

MDA2 dates the first record to 1908, in the review Ion Creangă, which CADE quotes: „am împătrat-o cu asta, n-o mai isprăvesc” “I've come to grief with this, I'll never finish it”.^[3][6]

Meanings

Verb

1. (regional, rare) To get into trouble; to be at a loss, to fail.^[3][6][4]
2. (regional, rare) To be disappointed, left with long lips.^[2][1]

Usage notes

Ciorănescu calls the word rare and seldom used in personal forms, so its conjugation is uncertain; the variant pătra occurs only in Șincai, where it may be a Latinism.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Ciorănescu, Alexandru (1958–1966), Diccionario etimológico rumano, La Laguna: Universidad de La Laguna (Romanian ed.: Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române, București: Saeculum, 2001), p. s.v. împătra
3. ^ a b c Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 1189
4. ^ a b Academia Republicii Populare Romîne (1958), Dicționarul limbii romîne moderne, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1, 403
5. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 4306a
6. ^ a b Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. împătra