deget

Forms

deget n (plural degete)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin digitus (“finger, toe”), a word kept by all the Romance languages.^{[2][3][4][5][1]} The Romanian plural continues a Latin plural digita.^[5][6] Pușcariu explains the dialect forms with /dz/ and /ʒ/ at the start by assimilation and metathesis of the consonants, as in some southern Italian dialects.^[5]

The noun survives in all four branches: Aromanian dzeadzit, Megleno-Romanian zeazit and Istro-Romanian žåžet.^[3][2][1][7] Its Romance cognates include Italian dito, Occitan det, French doigt, Spanish dedo and Portuguese dedo.^[3][6] The Latin word is usually linked with Proto-Indo-European *deyḱ- (“to show”), the root of dīcō, the finger being the “pointer”, but de Vaan doubts it because no other word shows the change of the root consonant.^[1][8] Its learned doublet is digit.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first records are in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki of about 1500, which has degetelor “of the fingers”.^[2][9] The sense is the finger of the hand, in the psalm verse “who teaches my hands to war and my fingers to fight” (Psalm 143:1).^[9][10]

Semantic evolution

Besides the finger, the word names the toe, degetul de la picior, as Latin and the other Romance languages do.^[5][11] It was an old measure of length, about the width of a finger or a tenth of a span.^[3][2] Modern technical language uses it for the teeth of mowers and combine harvesters that hold the stalks while they are cut.^[2][12]

Many idioms are built on it: a arăta cu degetul “to point the finger at someone, expose them”, a ști pe degete “to know thoroughly” and a se ascunde după deget “to try in vain to hide an obvious fault”.^[12][11] Slang uses deget for a small measure of spirits poured in a glass.^[13]

Timeline

• c. 1500 – first records in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki.^[2][9]
• c. 1573–1578 – degetele in the Psaltirea Scheiană.^[14][11]
• 1577 – deagetelor in Coresi's psalter.^[4][10]
• 1691–1697 – degetar “thimble” in Teodor Corbea's dictionary.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A finger; also a toe, or a digit of an animal's paw.^[12][1]
2. cinci-degete: creeping cinquefoil (Potentilla reptans), whose leaves have five leaflets.^[12]
3. A tooth of the cutting bar of mowers, reapers and combines, which separates and holds the stalks as they are cut.^[12][2]
4. An old unit of length, about the width of a finger.^[12][1]

Word family

• degetar
• degetariță
• degetaș
• degetăruț
• degetuț
• degețel

Related words

• digit
• Aromanian dzeadzit

Usage notes

The popular variant is deșt.^[12][4] Îi poți număra pe degete “you can count them on your fingers” means that there are very few.^[12]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. deget
3. ^ a b c d 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. deget
4. ^ a b c Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 630
5. ^ a b c d Pușcariu, Sextil (1905), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der rumänischen Sprache I: Lateinisches Element, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 43
6. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 2638
7. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 432
8. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
9. ^ a b c 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 143:1
10. ^ a b Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. deget
11. ^ 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. deget
12. ^ a b c d e f g h DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 283
13. ^ Volceanov, George (2007), Dicționar de argou al limbii române, București: Niculescu, p. s.v. deget
14. ^ 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 151:2