Etymology and origin of the Romanian word destoarce
destoarce1 make up for
- Confidence
- Probable
- Formation
- Derivation
- First attested
- 1825 Lexicon de la Buda
- Ultimate origins
- Romanian des-Proto-Italic *en-,*torkʷ-eie-
Etymology tree of destoarce1
From the same root · destoarce1
Pronunciation
- /des.ˈto̯ar.t͡ʃe/[1]
Forms
destoarce (third-person singular present destoarce, past participle destors, third-person subjunctive destoarcă) 3rd conjugation[1]
Etymology
The word for “to make up for” is formed from Romanian des- + întoarce.[2][3][4] Wiktionary gives toarce or întoarce as the base, and compares Latin distorqueō (“to twist this way and that”), through a Vulgar Latin *distorcō.[1]
Earliest recorded meaning
The DLR first cites the Lexicon de la Buda of 1825 for it.[2] Caragiale's tale of Abu-Hasan has the reflexive dative: „să-și destoarcă răbdările suferite sub strășnicia în care-l ținuse tată-său” “to make up for the hardships he had suffered under his father's strictness”.[2][5] MDA2 takes its first record from this passage.[3]
Timeline
- 1825 – the Lexicon de la Buda.[2]
- 20th century – CADE and the Academy dictionaries record the sense “to compensate oneself”.[2][4]
Meanings
Verb
destoarce2 untwist
- Confidence
- Established
- Formation
- Derivation
- First attested
- 1825 Lexicon de la Buda
- Ultimate origins
- Romanian des-Proto-Italic *torkʷ-eie-
Etymology tree of destoarce2
From the same root · destoarce2
Pronunciation
- /des.ˈto̯ar.t͡ʃe/[1]
Forms
destoarce (present destorc) 3rd conjugation[2]
Etymology
The word for “to untwist” is formed from Romanian des- + toarce.[2][3]
Earliest recorded meaning
MDA2's first record is the Lexicon de la Buda of 1825, and the 19th-century dictionaries of Valian, Polizu and Pontbriant list it.[3][2] Damé glosses it with French “détordre, détortiller”.[6] A folk charm has „Singur se va toarce, Singur s-a destoarce!” “it will spin itself and unspin itself”.[2]
Timeline
Meanings
Verb
Related words
Usage notes
The DLR records two more verbs of this form: destoarce “to press grapes”, formed from Romanian de- + stoarce and found only in one dictionary, and destoarce as a variant of distoarce.[2][3]
References
- ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. destoarce
- ^ a b c d e f g h Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 676
- ^ a b Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. destoarce
- ^ a b Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 2, 81
- ^ a b c Damé, Frédéric (1893–1895), Nouveau dictionnaire roumain-français, 4 vols., Bucarest: Imprimerie de l'État, p. 1, s.v. destoarce
Cite this entry
“Destoarce.” Etymologically, 12 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/ro/destoarce. Accessed 12 Nov. 2026.
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