destupa

Forms

destupa (third-person singular present destupă, past participle destupat) 1st conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Romanian des- + astupa, the prefix taking the place of the ⟨a-⟩ of the verb it undoes.^{[2][3][4][5][6]} astupa is from Vulgar Latin *adstuppō, from stuppa (“tow”).^[7] Ciorănescu also considers a Latin *disstuppō, compare French détouper, but thinks the Romanian formation more likely;^[8][1] Wiktionary gives both.^[8][1] Aromanian has the same verb, Aromanian distup.^[8][4][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR's first record is Varlaam's Cazania of 1643, where at a word „de năprasnă să destupă groapa și învise mortul” “suddenly the grave opened and the dead man rose”.^[4][3] Nicolae Costin's chronicle, MDA2's first record, tells how the foot soldiers began to clear the gates that had been blocked with earth and stones.^[5][3] Tiktin dates it to about 1670, in the Anonymus Caransebesiensis.^[6]

Semantic evolution

The verb has always been the opposite of astupa: to remove what closes or covers an opening, a grave, an oven, a window, and to uncork a bottle or open a cask.^[3][6][10] Figurative uses are old: Dosoftei asks God to „destupa” his eyes to understand the law.^[6][3] In the old language it also meant breaking up fallow land.^[6][5] A-și destupa urechile “to unstop one's ears” means to listen closely, and in slang the reflexive means to become open to new ideas.^[2][11]

Destupătură is recorded in 1682, in Dosoftei, and survives in southern Transylvania for the place where a valley leaves the mountains;^[4] destupător “corkscrew” appears in 1839.^[4]

Timeline

• 1643 – Varlaam's Cazania, the first record.^[4]
• c. 1670 – the Anonymus Caransebesiensis.^[6]
• 1682 – destupătură in Dosoftei's lives of the saints.^[4]
• 1839 – destupător in Vaillant's dictionary.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To uncork a bottle or take the lid off a closed vessel.^[2][5]
2. (transitive) To remove what covers an object or an opening; to uncover, to open;^[2][5] a-și destupa urechile “to listen carefully”.^[2][5]
3. (transitive) To clear a blocked pipe or channel, to unclog.^[12]
4. (obsolete) To break up fallow land.^[5][10]
5. (slang, reflexive) To become receptive to new things or to someone's suggestions.^[11]

Word family

• destupător
• destupătură

Related words

• astupa
• Aromanian distup

Usage notes

A regional variant is distupa.^[5][3]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 302
3. ^ 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. destupa
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. astupa
5. ^ 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, 677
6. ^ a b c d e f Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. destupa
7. ^ 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. astupa
8. ^ a b c 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. destupa
9. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 400
10. ^ a b Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 2, 82
11. ^ a b Volceanov, George (2007), Dicționar de argou al limbii române, București: Niculescu, p. s.v. destupa
12. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. destupa