cârpător

Forms

cârpător n (plural cârpătoare)^[1] The first record has the form krupetoriu; other variants are cărpător, câlpător, crapator, curpător and curpătoi.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

DEX, DLRM, MDA2, Ciorănescu and Wiktionary take it as inherited from Latin coopertōrium (“covering”), formed on cooperiō (“to cover”).^{[5][3][6][1][7]} Ciorănescu cites Pușchilă and Pușcariu for it, and the REW lists the Romanian word with the Romance descendants of the Latin noun, among them Italian copertoio (“lid”), Old French covertour and Spanish cobertero (“lid”).^[6][8] The Latin word would have given ⟨*cupărtor⟩, then ⟨curpător⟩.^[4] For the baker's peel Ciorănescu supposes a confusion with cârpă (“rag”), since the peel is often wrapped in a wet cloth before it goes into the oven.^[6] Wiktionary too allows an influence of the word for “rag”.^[1]

Tiktin and Pușcariu's first dictionary proposed *crepātōrium (“thing on which something is split”), from crepō (“to crack”) (Romanian crăpa).^[2][4] DELR calls the etymology uncertain and gives both views.^[4]

The word survives south of the Danube: Aromanian cripitor (also cãrpitor), and Megleno-Romanian călpitor.^[6][9][10] Ciorănescu thinks Serbo-Croatian krpàtur, recorded in the 17th century, may come from Romanian, while Daničić derived it from Italian.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is krupetoriu in a document of before 1803 published in Iorga's Studii și documente.^[2][3][4]

Semantic evolution

The Latin word meant a cover; in Romanian it became a round or square wooden board, often with a handle, onto which mămăligă is turned out of the pot and on which meat or vegetables are cut.^[2][3][11] Aromanian cripitor is the round board on which pastry is rolled thin.^[9] The board on which dough is spread and the wooden peel for putting bread into the oven followed.^[3][12]

MDA2 records the saying a mâncat turta, dar a rămas cârpătorul “he ate the cake but the board is left”, said of someone who denies a thing in the face of the evidence.^[3] Scriban notes a regional adverb cârpător “all in one piece”, of land.^[13]

Timeline

• before 1803 – krupetoriu in a document in Iorga's collection, the first record.^[3][2]
• 1901 – cârpător “baker's peel” in the Muscel glossary.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. (popular) A round, square or rectangular wooden board onto which mămăligă is turned out, or on which meat and onions are cut: Răsturnă mămăliga pe cârpător. “She turned the mămăligă out onto the board.”^[5][3]
2. (popular) A board or square table on which dough is rolled out.^[5][3]
3. (popular) A wooden peel for putting bread into the oven and taking it out.^[3][14]

Related words

• Aromanian cripitor
• Latin coopertōrium

Usage notes

The word is western and northern;^[13] Scriban also gives the forms cărpător, curpător and crăpător.^[13]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. cârpător
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 345
4. ^ a b c d e 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. cârpător
5. ^ a b c DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 164
6. ^ 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. cîrpător
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 2206
9. ^ a b Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 312
10. ^ Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net), p. 336
11. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. cîrpător
12. ^ a b Rădulescu-Codin, C. (1901), O seamă de cuvinte din Muscel, Câmpulung, p. 18
13. ^ a b c Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 297
14. ^ Academia Republicii Populare Romîne (1958), Dicționarul limbii romîne moderne, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. s.v. cîrpător