țese

Forms

țese (first-person singular present țes, past participle țesut, third-person subjunctive țeasă), third conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin texō (“to weave, construct”), a verb found in every Romance language.^{[2][3][4][5][1][6][7]} The Latin verb goes back to Proto-Italic *teksō, and its further origin is debated: de Vaan reconstructs Proto-Indo-European *teḱ-s- (“to fashion”), Meiser a root seen in Ancient Greek τέχνη (tékhnē, “skill”), and Wiktionary gives either *tḗtḱ-ti or an s-present *teḱ-se-ti.^[7][1]

It survives in all four branches: Aromanian tsas, Megleno-Romanian țǫs and Istro-Romanian țesu.^[2][8] Its Romance cognates include Italian tessere, French tisser, Occitan teiser, Catalan teixir, Spanish tejer and Portuguese tecer.^[2][6] The compound întrețese was made on the model of French entretisser.^[2] Graur traces the learned text, textil and context and the inherited subțire to the same Latin family.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is of 1642, in the Cazania of Govora.^[5] In 1649 Mardarie's Slavonic–Romanian lexicon has the participle țesut in its gloss of the weaver's beam.^[10] MDA2 also gives Mardarie as its first source.^[3] The Bucharest Bible of 1688 uses țesut “woven” of the priestly garments in Exodus (28:6).^[11]

Semantic evolution

The literal sense is making cloth on the loom by passing the weft through the warp.^[4][3] Spiders were said to weave too, and Eminescu has cobwebs woven in the corners of a room.^[5][4] Darning a stocking or garment with a special stitch is also called a țese, and so, by extension, is embroidering.^[4][5]

Figurative senses grew from the crossing threads: lightning „țeseau cerul în lung și-n lat” “criss-crossed the sky” in Nădejde; things intersect and combine; and a plot is woven, a țese intrigi.^[5][4][12] Sbiera's au țesut vorba “brought the talk round to” is regional, and Tiktin asks whether it is a Germanism.^[5][3] In Muntenia the reflexive is used of people rushing back and forth like a shuttle.^[13] Banat and Oltenia have a variant a țăsa.^[5]

Romanian formed țesător “weaver”, țesătoare, țesătorie “weaving mill” and țesătură “fabric”; the participle țesut became a noun, also for a body tissue.^[2]

Timeline

• 1642 – the Cazania of Govora, the first record.^[5]
• 1649 – țesut in Mardarie's Slavonic–Romanian lexicon.^[10][3]
• 1688 – țeasă, țesea and țesut in the Bucharest Bible.^[14]
• c. 1800–1812 – țese in Budai-Deleanu's Țiganiada.^[5]
• 19th century – of spiders' webs (Eminescu) and of lightning across the sky (Nădejde).^[5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To weave: to interlace the weft with the warp on the loom to make cloth.^[4][3][1] Reflexive passive: Aici se țes covoare. “Carpets are woven here.”^[4]
2. To darn a stocking or garment with a special stitch, and by extension to embroider.^[4][15]
3. Of spiders: to spin a web.^[4][15]
4. (reflexive, figurative) To intersect, to cross like the threads of a warp, and so to combine.^[4]
5. (figurative) To plot, to hatch an intrigue or a conspiracy.^[4][1][15]

Word family

• țesător
• țesătorie
• țesătură
• întrețese
• țesut
• țesătoare

Related words

• teară
• text
• subțire
• Aromanian tsas
• Latin texō

Usage notes

MDA2 lists several phrases: a-i țese cuiva ițele “to plot against someone”, a țese drumul “to keep going the same way”, and the reproach și-a găsit vremea a țese pânza for something done at the wrong moment.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e 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. țese
3. ^ a b c d e f g Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 1331
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1161
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. țese
6. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 8693
7. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
8. ^ Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net), p. 1033
9. ^ Graur, Alexandru (1980), Cuvinte înrudite, București: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică, p. 102
10. ^ a b Ungureanu, Mădălina; Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Moruz, Alexandru (eds.), eRomLex: The First Romanian Bilingual Dictionaries (17th century), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. s.v. țesut
11. ^ Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Exodus 28:6
12. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 1, 650
13. ^ Marin, Maria; Mărgărit, Iulia, Glosar dialectal. Muntenia, București: Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti”, p. 444
14. ^ Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Exodus 35:35
15. ^ a b c Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. țese