broască

Forms

broască f (plural broaște)^[1] In the Moldovan Cyrillic alphabet the word was written броаскэ.^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *brosca (“frog”), a spoken Latin word that Ciorănescu, DELR, the DEX, MDA2 and the DA reconstruct.^{[2][3][4][5][6][7]} DELR compares Medieval Latin bruscus, a kind of frog in Papias's 11th-century Latin dictionary, Old Lombard brosco and Ladin rušk, which point to a related *broscus; Italian rospo (“toad”) probably reflects it as well.^[3][8] Albanian breshkë (“tortoise”) points to the same Latin form.^[3][2][1] The word survives south of the Danube: Aromanian broascã, which also means “tortoise”, and Megleno-Romanian broască.^[9][10][11]

The origin of the Latin word is unclear.^[3] It may be a pre-Roman word related to Proto-Germanic *fruskaz (“frog”) or to Proto-Celtic *prosko-, a form proposed by Alessio.^[3][12][1] Older scholars thought it native to the Balkans (Miklosich, Cihac) or derived it from Ancient Greek βρόθακος (bróthakos, “frog”) (Crețu, Densusianu, Diculescu).^[2][3] DELR finds that derivation difficult: that word reached Romanian with its /t/ kept, as brotac, and Greek /tʰ/ normally gives /t/ in old loans.^[3] Tiktin's first edition derived the word from ⟨brotac⟩ with the ending replaced, as in gânsac beside gâscă.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki (early 16th century), with the plural forms broaştele (Psalm 77:50) and broaşte (Psalm 104:29).^[13][3] Tiktin dates a record to 1528.^[14] MDA2's first record is the Anonymus Caransebesiensis glossary (c. 1650), which glosses broskă with Latin rana.^[5][6]

Semantic evolution

Besides the animal, the word names a door lock, a swelling under the skin or under the tongue, a carpenter's plane, and parts of mills, ploughs and other objects that hold or end another part.^[3][2] DELR explains the lock by the shape of old ornamented door locks, which looked like the animal, or by the jump of its spring;^[15] Rosetti proposed a calque on Bulgarian жабка (žabka) “little frog; hinge”.^[3] Ciorănescu compares the same image in French grenouillette and Italian ranella.^[2] The swelling sense is explained by Sala through a folk belief about the cure;^[15] Graur finds a simpler explanation more likely.^[15] Barcianu's dictionary of 1886 glosses the word as German Frosch and also Schloss “lock”.^[16]

Folk sayings use the frog: lac să fie, că broaște se-adună “let there be a pond and frogs will gather”, meaning that a good opportunity always finds takers, and când o face broasca păr “when the frog grows hair”, meaning never.^[5][14] The word passed into Greek as Modern Greek μπράσκα (bráska) and into Transylvanian Saxon.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1500–1520 – broaşte and broaştele in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki, the first record.^[17][3]
• 1528 – a record dated by Tiktin.^[14]
• c. 1650 – broskă “frog” and brosconi “big frogs” in the Anonymus Caransebesiensis.^[5][3]
• 1688 – broaștele in the Bucharest Bible.^[18]
• 1691–1697 – broștesc “of frogs” and broștește “like frogs” in Corbea's dictionary.^[3]
• 1748 – broscaș “carpenter”, from the plane sense.^[3]
• 1825 – the Lexicon of Buda records a disease of the tongue in cattle.^[19]
• 1857 – broscuță “little frog” in Polizu's dictionary.^[3]
• 1886 – Barcianu glosses the word as “lock”.^[16]

Meanings

Noun

1. A frog: any of several tailless amphibians with long hind legs for jumping, a wide mouth and bulging eyes;^[4][5][1] broască râioasă is the toad.^[4][5][1]
2. Broască-țestoasă: a tortoise or turtle.^[4]
3. A lock fitted to a door or drawer and opened with a key.^[4][1]
4. (botany) The prickly pear cactus (Opuntia ficus-indica); broasca-apei is a pondweed (Potamogeton lucens).^[4][20][1]
5. (popular) A swelling under the skin or under the tongue, a cyst; in cattle, a swelling on or under the tongue.^[3][2]
6. (regional) A carpenter's plane; a part of various objects, such as a mill or plough, that supports or ends another part.^[3][2][21]

Word family

• broscar
• broscaș
• broscărie
• broscărime
• broscoi
• broscuță

Related words

• brotac
• Aromanian broascã
• Albanian breshkë

Usage notes

Ochi de broască “frog's eyes” are bulging eyes.^[4][5] A se face broască la pământ “to make oneself a frog on the ground” is to lie flat so as not to be seen.^[5]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. broască
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. broască
4. ^ a b c d e f g DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 119
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 246
6. ^ a b 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. broască
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 1329
8. ^ Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
9. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 218
10. ^ Saramandu, Nicolae (coord.) et al. (2010–), Dicționarul dialectului meglenoromân, general și etimologic, fascicles in Fonetică și dialectologie XXIX–, p. 95
11. ^ Capidan, Theodor (1935), Meglenoromânii III: Dicționar meglenoromân, București: Academia Română, p. 45
12. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
13. ^ 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 104:29
14. ^ 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. broască
15. ^ a b c Graur, Alexandru (1963), Etimologii romînești, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. s.v. broască
16. ^ a b Barcianu, Sava Popovici (1886), Dicționar român-germân și germân-român, revised by D. P. Barcianu, part I: român-germân, Sibiu: Institut tipografic, p. 66
17. ^ 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 77:50
18. ^ Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Exodus 8:3
19. ^ Lesicon românescu-latinescu-ungurescu-nemțescu quare de mai mulți autori, în cursul a trideci și mai multor ani s-au lucrat (1825), Buda: Typographia Universității (the Lexicon of Buda, ed. Petru Maior et al.), p. 67
20. ^ Panțu, Zach. C. (1929), Plantele cunoscute de poporul român. Vocabular botanic cuprinzând numirile române, franceze, germane și științifice, 2nd ed., București: Editura Casei Școalelor, p. 25
21. ^ Rădulescu-Codin, C. (1901), O seamă de cuvinte din Muscel, Câmpulung, p. 12