depăna

Forms

a depăna (first-person singular present deapăn or depăn, third-person singular deapănă, past participle depănat, third-person subjunctive depene); first conjugation.^[1][2][3] Muntenian and Transylvanian speech has dăpăna, third-person dapănă;^[4][5] Muntenian also dăpina.^[4][5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *dēpānāre (“to wind off”), formed dē- and pānus (“thread wound on a bobbin”).^[4][6][2][7] Ciorănescu writes the Latin form *dēpēnāre and lists Körting, Densusianu, Pușcariu, Candrea and Densusianu, the REW and Tiktin for it;^[8] Philippide's derivation from dēpīlō he rejects.^[8] The Latin noun may well be a loan from a Doric form of Ancient Greek πῆνος (pênos, “web, yarn”).^[9][1]

It survives south of the Danube: Aromanian deapin and Megleno-Romanian depin.^[8][10][11] The Romance cognates are Italian dipanare, Catalan debanar, Spanish devanar, Portuguese dobar and Sardinian demanare.^[8][7][12]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR's first record is from about 1650.^[4] The Bible of 1688, MDA2's and Tiktin's first record, describes the good wife who winds wool: „Depănând lână” “winding wool” (Proverbs 31:13).^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

The textile sense is the base: to wind yarn from a skein onto a bobbin or spool, or from the spindle into a skein;^[6][2] Tiktin lists the tools for it, râșchitor, vârtelniță and sucală.^[6][2]

From the turning motion came figurative senses: Eminescu's cu degetele depeni is “you twiddle your thumbs”; one “unwinds” memories, thoughts or a story (Creangă's dapănă firul poveștii); and one covers a road, or a depăna din picioare “walks with quick steps”.^[2][13][6] MDA2 adds the regional senses of a horse's short quick trot and of idle talk.^[3] The colloquial a lua pe cineva la depănat means “to take someone to task”.^[6][2] In Aromanian deapin also came to mean “to eat up, swallow”.^[10]

Timeline

• c. 1650 – the first record.^[4]
• 1688 – depănând lână “winding wool” in the Bucharest Bible.^[2][14]
• after 1828 – dăpănătoare “reel” in I. Golescu.^[4]
• c. 1832 – depănător “winder” in I. Golescu.^[4]
• 1870 – depănătoare “woman winder” in Costinescu.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To wind yarn from a skein onto a bobbin or spool, or from a spindle into a skein.^[6][3][1]
2. (figurative) To unfold, tell over (memories, thoughts); reflexive, of events, to pass before one's eyes.^[6][1]
3. (figurative) To cover (a road, a distance).^[6][3]

Word family

• deapăn
• depănat
• depănător
• depănătură
• depănare
• depănătoare

Related words

• Aromanian deapin
• Latin pānus

Usage notes

A depăna din picioare is “to walk with quick steps”, and a lua pe cineva la depănat “to give someone a dressing-down”.^[6]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. depăna
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 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. depăna
5. ^ a b Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. depăna
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1, 290
7. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 2569
8. ^ 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. depăna
9. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill, p. pānus
10. ^ a b Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 380
11. ^ Saramandu, Nicolae (coord.) et al. (2010–), Dicționarul dialectului meglenoromân, general și etimologic, fascicles in Fonetică și dialectologie XXIX–, p. 187
12. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier, p. dipanare
13. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 1, 198
14. ^ Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Prov 31:13