ac

Forms

ac n (plural ace)^[1] In the Moldovan Cyrillic alphabet the word was written ак.^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin acus (“needle”).^{[2][3][4][1][5][6]} It survives in all four branches: Aromanian ac, Megleno-Romanian ac and Istro-Romanian åc.^{[2][3][7][8][9]} Its cognates are Dalmatian yuak, Italian ago, Sardinian agu and Occitan ac.^[2][6] The Latin noun was feminine and of the fourth declension; it passed into the second, and so became masculine in Italian and Romanian, while Dalmatian and Sardinian kept the feminine.^[10] French and Spanish replaced it with derivatives, French aiguille and Spanish aguja.^[10][11] DELR links the Latin word with ācer (“sharp”), aciēs (“edge”) and acidus,^[3] and Wiktionary traces it to Proto-Indo-European *h₂eḱ- (“sharp”).^[1]

The railway sense “switch, points” is modelled on the same French word and on German Nadel.^[3][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR's first record is from 1508, in the Slavonic-language documents of the Romanian principalities.^[3] In Romanian texts the word appears in Coresi's prints: MDA2 dates it to 1564,^[4] and in a text by Coresi of 1580 the camel cannot pass „preîn urechile acului” “through the eye of the needle”.^[10][12]

Semantic evolution

From the sewing needle the word was applied to things of the same shape: the hand of a clock or instrument, a pin, the needle of a conifer and the sting of a bee or wasp.^[2][3][13] The DA groups the sting and sharp stabbing pains with the needle.^[10] The railway sense “switch, points” came in the 19th century, after French and German;^[3] the pointsman was then called acar, recorded from 1901.^[3][2]

The family includes a needle box, acăriță (1825) or acarniță (1839), and the old adjective acos “sharp, stinging” (1682).^[3] Many idioms use the word: a scăpa ca prin urechile acului “to have a narrow escape” and a avea ac de cojocul cuiva “to know how to deal with someone”.^[13][4]

Timeline

• 1508 – first record, in a Slavonic-language document.^[3]
• 1564 – in a print by Coresi.^[4]
• 1580 – urechile acului “the eye of the needle” in a text by Coresi.^[10]
• c. 1650 – the augmentative acoi.^[3]
• 1682 – acos “sharp, stinging” in Dosoftei.^[3]
• 1691–1697 – the diminutive acușor in Teodor Corbea's dictionary.^[3]
• 1825 – acăriță “needle box” in the Lexicon of Buda.^[3]
• 1839 – acarniță “needle box” and aculeț.^[3]
• 1901 – acar “pointsman”.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A needle: a small, thin steel tool with a point at one end and an eye at the other, for sewing.^[13]
2. Any similar pointed piece: a pin, a knitting needle, the needle of a syringe or a gramophone.^[13][4]
3. The hand or pointer of a clock or measuring instrument.^[13][2]
4. The narrow pointed leaf of a conifer.^[13][3]
5. The sting or sharp organ of some animals and plants.^[13][2]
6. (railways) A railway switch, the movable rail of points.^[3][10]

Word family

• acar
• acarniță
• acăriță
• aculeț
• acușor

Related words

• acru
• ascuți
• ață
• Latin acus

Usage notes

The plural is ace.^[13] Curbă în ac de păr “hairpin bend” is a recent phrase, after English hairpin.^[14]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g 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. ac
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r 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. ac
4. ^ 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, 5
5. ^ Pușcariu, Sextil (1905), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der rumänischen Sprache I: Lateinisches Element, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 1
6. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 130
7. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 51
8. ^ Capidan, Theodor (1935), Meglenoromânii III: Dicționar meglenoromân, București: Academia Română, p. 7
9. ^ Kovačec, August (1998), Istrorumunjsko-hrvatski rječnik (s gramatikom i tekstovima), Pula
10. ^ a b c d e f g 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. ac
11. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier, p. s.v. ago
12. ^ Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. ac
13. ^ a b c d e f g h DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 4
14. ^ Dimitrescu, Florica (1997), Dicționar de cuvinte recente, 2nd ed., București: Logos (with the 3rd ed., 2013, in CLRE), p. s.v. ac