așchie

Forms

așchie f (plural așchii)^[1] Older and regional forms are așche, hașchie, iașchie and ieșchie;^[2][3][4] Muntenia also has the plural ășchii.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin ascla (“splinter”), a popular form of Latin assula, itself the diminutive of assis (“plank, board”).^{[5][2][6][7][1]} DER and DELR explain it by a reduction of *astla, the form behind the Classical variant astula.^[5][2] The word survives in Aromanian ashclji.^[5][8]

Its Romance cognates include Italian aschia, Catalan ascla and Portuguese acha; Spanish astilla comes from a related form.^[5][9] The REW and the DA compare Albanian ashkë and Modern Greek άσκλα (áskla).^[7][9] Wiktionary gives two views of the Albanian word: inherited from Proto-Albanian or borrowed from the Late Latin word.^[1]

The verb așchia “to chip, splinter” is a Romanian derivative for Ciorănescu, DEX and Tiktin;^[5][2] Pușcariu and the DA traced it to a Latin *asclō, which Ciorănescu finds unnecessary.^[5][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is Coresi's commentary on the Gospels, which he dates 1564 and DELR dates 1567–1568.^[4][2] The 1688 Bible has the mote in the brother's eye: „vei căuta să scoți așchiia cea den ochiul fratelui tău” “you will seek to take out the splinter from your brother's eye” (Luke 6:42).^[4][10]

Semantic evolution

The sense has stayed close to “a thin piece split off wood, bone or stone”.^[6][9] The DA distinguishes it from țandără and surcea, which name smaller, irregular pieces, though speakers often confuse them.^[9] Tiktin records a sense “stroke of the axe” in felling, as in the proverb copaciul mare dintr-o așchie nu se taie “a big tree is not felled with one chip”.^[4] MDA2 also records rare senses such as the hangnail.^[3]

The best-known phrase is the proverb așchia nu sare departe de trunchi “the chip does not jump far from the trunk”, said of children who take after their parents.^[4][11] Derivatives followed: așchioară in 1796, așchia in 1802–1803, așchiță in 1825 and așchietor in 1952.^[2]

Timeline

• 1564 – Coresi's commentary on the Gospels, Tiktin's first record (DELR: 1567–1568).^[4][2]
• 1664 – the plural așchiile in a Slavonic–Romanian lexicon.^[12]
• 1688 – așchiia in Luke 6:42 in the Bucharest Bible.^[3][10]
• 1796 – the diminutive așchioară.^[2]
• 1802–1803 – the verb așchia.^[2]
• 1952 – așchietor, a technical term for chip-forming machining.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A splinter or chip: a small, thin piece that comes off or flies from wood, stone or another material when it is cut or broken.^[6][3]
2. (figurative) A jibe, a barbed remark.^[13]

Word family

• așchia
• așchioară
• așchios
• așchiță
• așchiuță

Related words

• Aromanian ashclji
• Latin assula

Usage notes

The proverb așchia nu sare departe de trunchi corresponds to “the apple doesn't fall far from the tree”.^[4]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2011–), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române (DELR), vol. I: A–B (2011), vol. II: C (2015–2018), București: Editura Academiei Române; continued online at delr.lingv.ro, p. s.v. așchie
3. ^ a b c d e Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 118
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. așchie
5. ^ a b c d e f 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. așchie
6. ^ a b c DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 70
7. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 736
8. ^ Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net), p. 145
9. ^ a b c d Academia Română (1913–1949), Dicționarul limbii române (DA), ed. Sextil Pușcariu, tom I (A–B, C, D–De) and tom II (F–I, J–Lojniță), București: Socec / Universul / Monitorul Oficial și Imprimeriile Statului; page scans at cflr-scans.solirom.ro, p. s.v. așchie
10. ^ a b Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Lk 6:42
11. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 133
12. ^ 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. așchiile
13. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1, 152