apuca

Forms

apuca (third-person singular present apucă, past participle apucat, third-person subjunctive apuce), 1st conjugation^[1]

Etymology

Its origin is uncertain; the explanation DELR favours is that it is inherited from Latin aucupor (“to go bird-catching; to try to catch”), with the diphthong simplified and a metathesis.^[2] This explanation goes back to Burlă (1880) and is accepted by Pușcariu, the REW, Papahagi, Rosetti, Mihăescu, MDA2 and DEX.^[2][3][4][5] The Latin verb comes from auceps (“bird-catcher”), a compound of avis (“bird”) and capiō (“to take, catch”).^[2][1] The verb survives south of the Danube: Aromanian apuc and Megleno-Romanian pucari.^[2][6]

Ciorănescu prefers occupō (“to seize, occupy”), first proposed by Cihac: he points out that the Latin verb already meant “to seize”, and explains the initial vowel by confusion with the prefix ad- and with the bird-catching verb.^[7] DELR finds this view semantically problematic, since it does not account for the concrete sense “to catch hold”, which seems basic to all the others.^[2] Other proposals are a Latin *aboccupō (Avram), *accupō built on the model of that verb (Laurian and Massim), a derivative of apiō (“to fasten”) (Hasdeu), and an imitative origin from an interjection *puc (Spitzer).^[2][7] The Academy's DA left it as of unknown origin.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR's first record is the Psaltirea de la Voroneț of about 1551–1558, where apucară “they took hold” appears at Psalm 118:147.^[2][8] Tiktin and MDA2 cite the Psaltirea Scheiană of about 1573–1578.^[9][4]

Semantic evolution

From “to seize, grasp” the verb developed senses of time and reach: to arrive in time to catch something, to live long enough to see someone or something, and to inherit a custom (așa am apucat “that is how we found it”).^[5][2] The reflexive a se apuca de became “to begin, set about”, and with a road as its object the verb means “to set off in a direction”.^[5][2] Old Romanian also used it for “to seize power” and “to rescue someone from danger”.^[2][9]

Its family includes apucător “grasping, greedy”, recorded from 1643, apucătură “grip; bad habit; epileptic fit”, from the second half of the 17th century, and reapuca “to take up again”, from 1853, formed after French reprendre.^[2] The noun apucat also means epilepsy, and an apucat is a person possessed or out of his mind.^[7][2] Ciorănescu notes that Transylvanian Saxon took the verb from Romanian.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 1551–1558 – apucară and apuci in the Psaltirea de la Voroneț, the first record.^[2][8]
• 1570 – apucai and apucat in Coresi's psalter.^[10]
• c. 1573–1578 – in the Psaltirea Scheiană.^[9][4]
• 1643 – apucător in Varlaam's Cazania.^[2]
• 1665–1685 – apucătură in Milescu's translation of the Septuagint.^[2]
• 1717–1723 – the noun apucat in Cantemir.^[2]
• 1853 – reapuca.^[2]
• 1870 – the adjective apucat “possessed” in Eminescu.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To seize, grab, take hold of (with the hand); to snatch up hastily whatever is at hand;^[5][4] pe apucate “hastily, haphazardly”.^[5][4]
2. (reflexive) To hold on to someone or something, to cling.^[5]
3. (transitive, figurative; of physical or mental states) To come over someone, overwhelm: Ce te-a apucat? “What has got into you?”^[5]
4. (transitive) To arrive in time to catch someone or something: N-a mai apucat autobuzul.^[5][2]
5. (transitive) To live long enough to know someone or witness something;^[5][2] (intransitive) to receive a custom by tradition.^[5][2]
6. (transitive and reflexive) To begin, set about doing something; to be on the point of doing it: S-a apucat de citit.^[5][2]
7. (transitive and intransitive) To head in a certain direction: A apucat-o spre casă.^[5][2]

Word family

• apucat
• apucătură
• reapuca
• apucător

Related words

• Aromanian apuc

Usage notes

A apuca pe cineva de scurt means to call someone to account without warning, and a apuca pe Dumnezeu de picior is to have a stroke of great luck.^[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 m n o p q r s t u v w x 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. apuca
3. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 776
4. ^ 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, 85
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 56
6. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 123
7. ^ 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. apuca
8. ^ a b Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Ungureanu, Mădălina; Moruz, Alexandru et al., roPsalt: Re-evaluating the Sixteenth Century Romanian Psalters (aligned corpus), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. Ps 118:147
9. ^ 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. apuca
10. ^ Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Ungureanu, Mădălina; Moruz, Alexandru et al., roPsalt: Re-evaluating the Sixteenth Century Romanian Psalters (aligned corpus), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. Ps 118:146