crăpătură

Forms

crăpătură f (plural crăpături)^[1] The old form crepătură is the one in the Palia de la Orăștie, and the 17th-century Slavonic–Romanian lexicons have both spellings.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin crepātūra (“crack, fissure”), formed on crepō (“to crack, rattle”).^{[2][4][5][6][1]} Tiktin gives two views: a derivative of crăpa, or the Latin word.^[7] Ciorănescu lists it among the derivatives of that verb.^[8] South of the Danube it survives as Aromanian cripitură or cărpitură.^[9] The Romance cognates include Italian crepatura, Old French creveure, Occitan crebadura, Catalan crebadura, Spanish quebradura and Portuguese quebradura.^[2][9][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR's first record is the Palia de la Orăștie of 1582, with the form crepătură;^[2][7] Tiktin cites it from Exodus 33.^[2][7]

Semantic evolution

Besides a crack or cleft in something split, the word came to mean the narrow gap of a door or window left ajar.^[2][5] The DA records several popular senses: a notch cut in a sheep's ear as a mark, chapped skin, and, in derision, a woman or a lout;^[4][2] DELR places the sense “lout” in Bukovina.^[4][2] In slang it is a euphemism for the vulva.^[11] As a Moldovan regionalism it can mean a hollow in a tree.^[12] Diminutives are crăpăturuță (1825) and crăpăturică (1886).^[2]

Timeline

• 1582 – crepătură in the Palia de la Orăștie, the first record.^[2][7]
• 1649 – crepătură in Mardarie's Slavonic–Romanian lexicon.^[3]
• c. 1650–1700 – crăpătură in the Anonymus Caransebesiensis glossary.^[6]
• 1825 – the diminutive crăpăturuță in the Lexicon de la Buda.^[2]
• 1886 – the diminutive crăpăturică in Sbiera's tales.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A crack, split or fissure; a narrow opening in something that has cracked;^[5][6][1] crăpăturile pământului.^[5][6][1]
2. The narrow gap between a door or window left ajar and its frame, as in Lumina intra prin crăpătura ferestrei.^[5][6]
3. (regional, Bukovina) A lout, a boor.^[2]

Word family

• crăpăturică

Related words

• crăpa
• ruptură
• Latin crepō

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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. crăpătură
3. ^ a b Ungureanu, Mădălina; Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Moruz, Alexandru (eds.), eRomLex: The First Romanian Bilingual Dictionaries (17th century), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. s.v. crepătură
4. ^ a b c 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. crăpătură
5. ^ a b c d e DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 246
6. ^ a b c d e Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 539
7. ^ a b c d Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. crăpătură
8. ^ 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. crăpa
9. ^ a b Candrea, I.-A.; Densusianu, Ov. (1907–1914), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române: elementele latine (A–Putea), București
10. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 2314
11. ^ Volceanov, George (2007), Dicționar de argou al limbii române, București: Niculescu, p. s.v. crăpătură
12. ^ Stati, Vasile (2003), Dicționar moldovenesc-românesc, Chișinău, p. 81