beștea

Forms

beștea f (plural beștele)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *vessīcella (“small blister”), a diminutive of Latin vēsīca (“bladder”), as Densusianu proposed and the REW and Ciorănescu accept.^[2][3] Wiktionary starts from a contracted *vescella.^[1] MDA2 explains it instead as a syncopated form of besicea.^[4] The REW lists it as the only Romance reflex of the diminutive.^[3]

The Latin noun is also the source of bășică “blister, bladder”.^[2][5] De Vaan, following André, takes the original form to be ⟨vēsīca⟩ and its root to be sound-imitating.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word was first recorded in 1915 by Ovid Densusianu in his study of the speech of Țara Hațegului, as beșt'ea with the gloss pușchea “blister on the tongue”.^[7][4]

Timeline

• 1915 – beșt'ea “blister on the tongue” in Densusianu's glossary of Țara Hațegului, the first record.^[7][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. (regional, south-western Transylvania) A blister or small sore on the tongue; pușchea.^[2][4][1]

Related words

• bășică
• Latin vēsīca

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c 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. beștea
3. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 9277a
4. ^ 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, 200
5. ^ 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. bășică
6. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
7. ^ a b Densusianu, Ovid (1915), Graiul din Țara Hațegului, București: Socec, p. 307