arăta

Forms

arăta (third-person singular present arată, past participle arătat, third-person subjunctive arate) 1st conjugation^[1]

Etymology

Its origin is uncertain.^[2][3] DELR, MDA2, DEX and Wiktionary take it as probably inherited from Vulgar Latin *arrēctō (“to make straight”),^[4][5][6][1] from Latin rēctus (“straight”).^[4][1] The meaning would have gone from “straighten up” to “rise, appear” and then “bring to light, show”, or from “point something at someone” to “show”.^[4] The forms with ⟨rr⟩ and ⟨e⟩ in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki, such as ⟨arretu⟩, support an etymon with ⟨e⟩ in the stem.^[4] Ciorănescu and Wiktionary note that the sound changes would be irregular.^[3][1]

Other proposals are many.^[4][3] Meyer-Lübke, the REW and Pușcariu proposed Latin *ēlatāre (“to bring to light”), which cannot explain the old ⟨rr⟩ forms.^[4][3] Ciorănescu derived it from a Latin ratāre (“to fix, determine”), from ratus, with ⟨a-⟩ added in Latin or in Romanian.^[3][4] Others suggested *ērectāre (Weigand, Pascu), *ad-reputāre (Hasdeu), *ad-reiterāre (Candrea), *ēlitāre (Boerescu) or a Greek word for “limb, aspect” (Giuglea).^[4][3] Wiktionary also mentions the view that three Latin verbs merged in Romanian.^[1] The word survives in Aromanian, though only two records are known there, and in Istro-Romanian: Aromanian arăt and Istro-Romanian aråt.^[4][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR dates the first record to about 1500, in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki, where the word is always spelled with ⟨rr⟩.^[4] MDA2 gives the Codicele Voronețean (c. 1563–1583) as its first record.^[5] Tiktin quotes it from the same text, in James 3:13, in the sense “to show”.^[8]

Semantic evolution

The core sense is “to let be seen, to show”; from it came “to point at”, “to explain, to prove” and, without an object, “to look (a certain way)”.^[6][9][3] The reflexive “to show oneself, to appear” led to the noun arătare, first “showing, declaration” and later “apparition, ghost, monster”.^[4][6]

Arătător, recorded in Coresi in 1581, became the name of the forefinger, the finger one points with; it also served as a calque of German Zeiger “hand of a clock” and of the Latin grammar terms for the indicative mood and the demonstrative pronoun.^[4] Arătare in the sense “theatre performance” follows German Schauspiel.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 1500 – first record, with the noun arătare, in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki.^[4]
• c. 1563–1583 – in the Codicele Voronețean.^[5][8]
• 1581 – arătător in Coresi's Carte de învățătură.^[4]
• 1682 – arătat “showing” in Dosoftei.^[4]
• 1882 – arătanie “monster, apparition”.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. To show: to put something before someone's eyes; to let it be seen.^[6][1]
2. To point at a person or thing with a gesture; of instruments, to indicate a measure or direction; of a clock, to show the time: Ceasul arăta trei fără un sfert.^[6][5][1]
3. To explain or set out something in order to make it clear or to prove it.^[6]
4. To show or express a feeling or quality; to prove.^[6]
5. (intransitive) To look, to have a certain appearance: Arăți obosit.^[6][1]
6. (reflexive) To appear, to come into view, often unexpectedly.^[6][1]

Word family

• arătanie
• arătare
• arătat
• arătător
• arătătură
• arătos

Related words

• Aromanian arăt

Usage notes

Set phrases: a arăta cuiva ușa “to show someone the door”;^[6] a arăta pe cineva cu degetul “to point the finger at someone, to expose them to public blame”; the threat îți arăt eu ție! “I'll show you!”.^[6]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. aflá
3. ^ 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. arăta
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q 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. arătá
5. ^ a b c d Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 88
6. ^ 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. 58
7. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 128
8. ^ a b Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. arătá
9. ^ 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. arăta