agăța

Forms

agăța (third-person singular present agață, past participle agățat, third-person subjunctive agațe); 1st conjugation^[1] The older variant acăța is the form of the first record and Tiktin's headword: „Râsul ajunse căprioara, se acăță cu ghiarele de pieptul ei” “the lynx reached the roe deer and clung to her breast with its claws” (Odobescu).^[2][3] Ciorănescu notes that acăța has been losing ground to agăța, despite the efforts of grammarians and purists.^[4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *accaptiāre (“to catch”), formed with ad- on *captiāre, from captus, the participle of capiō (“to take, seize”).^{[3][5][6][1][7]} The other Romance languages inherited the simple verb in the sense “to hunt”: Italian cacciare, French chasser, Spanish cazar and Portuguese caçar.^[4][3] The verb survives in all four branches: Aromanian acats, Megleno-Romanian cățari and Istro-Romanian acațå, which keep the old sense “to catch, seize”.^[3][7][8]

Ciorănescu calls the origin uncertain: the sense is no problem, but the loss of /p/ in the group /pt/ is hard to explain.^[4] He suggests contamination with a Balkan word, citing a Bulgarian form after Meyer, while Candrea and Pușcariu assumed crossing with cață “stick”.^[4] DELR finds that the Bulgarian form does not exist and that the contamination is unnecessary, since the groups /pt/ and /kt/ were also simplified in boteza and vătăma.^[3] Cihac derived the verb from Hungarian, and Hasdeu from the prefix a- and the same noun.^[4][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is acăța in the Pravila lui Lucaci of 1581.^[3][2] The form agăța is MDA2's headword, first recorded in Ispirescu's tales of 1892, where an owl clings to a man's back.^[5][7]

Semantic evolution

In Romanian the sense “to seize with the claws” became rare, unlike in the sister branches.^[7] The reflexive “to catch hold of, to cling to” led to “to hang from” and “to climb by holding on”.^[7] The reflexive then gave a new transitive “to hang something up”.^[7] A fabric that catches on something sharp and tears is said to be agățat.^[6] In colloquial use the verb means to accost someone, especially of the opposite sex, and in slang “to steal” and “to arrest”.^[6][9] The derivative acățătoare, the loop sewn on a garment to hang it by, is recorded from the 1690s.^[3]

Timeline

• 1581 – acăța in the Pravila lui Lucaci, the first record.^[3][2]
• 1691-1697 – acățătoare “hanging loop” and acățători “clinging” in Teodor Corbea's dictionary.^[3]
• 1822 – acățăcios “that catches easily” and acățele “vine tendrils” in Bobb's dictionary.^[3]
• 1857 – acățătură in Polizu's dictionary.^[3]
• 1892 – agăța in Ispirescu's tales.^[5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To hang something on a hook or a nail, to suspend: Și-a agățat haina în cui.^[6][5]
2. To catch a fabric on something sharp, which tears it;^[6] (reflexive, of fabric) to tear by catching.^[6]
3. (colloquial) To accost a person, especially of the opposite sex, to pick up.^[6][1]
4. (reflexive) To catch hold of, to cling to something or someone;^[6][5] (figurative) to cling desperately.^[6][5]
5. (slang) To steal; to arrest.^[9]

Word family

• agățătoare
• agățător
• agățătură
• agățăcios
• acățele
• dezgăța

Related words

• cață
• Aromanian acats

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. acăța
3. ^ 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. agăța
4. ^ 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. acăța
5. ^ a b c d e f Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 26
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1, 20
7. ^ a b c d e f 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. acăța
8. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 51
9. ^ a b Volceanov, George (2007), Dicționar de argou al limbii române, București: Niculescu, p. s.v. agăța