dăpăra

Forms

dăpăra (third-person singular present dapără, past participle dăpărat) 1st conjugation^[1] The dictionaries list it under the variant depăra (present depăr or depărez).^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin dēpilō (“to pull out the hair”), formed from dē- and pilō (“to deprive of hair”), from pilus (“hair”), the source of păr.^{[5][6][4][1][7]} Pușcariu, Candrea and Densusianu, Pascu and the REW gave the same etymon.^[5] It survives south of the Danube as Aromanian deapir and Megleno-Romanian deapir.^[5][8] Its Romance cognates are Old Italian dipelare and Occitan depilar.^[5][9]

The learned depila “to remove hair” is a doublet of the same Latin verb.^[5][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

MDA2 dates the first record, under the form depăra, to the Anonymus Caransebesiensis, a Romanian–Latin glossary of about 1650–1700.^[3] Țichindeal has dăpăra for two people who fight: „au început a se dăpăra și a se zgâria” “they began to tear each other's hair and to scratch”.^[4][10]

Semantic evolution

The verb is used mostly of tearing out one's own hair from grief, as in the folk lament „Cosiță galbenă depărând” “tearing her golden braid”.^[4][10] In the reflexive it meant “to pull each other's hair, to brawl”, and in the regions also “to vex”.^[4][3] A saying about the two-faced, „cu o mână te apără, cu alta te dapără” “he defends you with one hand and pulls your hair with the other”, plays on apăra.^[4][11]

DER links the word to an old legal custom, the depărare, abandoned at the start of the 19th century: when a property was marked out, the owners' sons were publicly given this punishment so that they would remember the boundary.^[5] Place names such as Depărați keep the memory of it.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 1650–1700 – depăra in the Anonymus Caransebesiensis, the first record.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive and reflexive, popular) To tear out one's hair, from grief or despair.^[6][2]
2. (colloquial) To pull each other's hair, to brawl.^[6][2]
3. (figurative, regional) To vex, torment.^[2][3]

Related words

• păr
• depăra
• depila
• Aromanian deapir

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1, 290
3. ^ 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, 645
4. ^ a b c d e f Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. depăra
5. ^ 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. depăra
6. ^ a b c Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan” (1998), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române, 2nd ed., București: Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1, 261
7. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 381
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 2571
10. ^ a b Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. dăpăra
11. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 1, 190