drepnea

Forms

drepnea f (plural drepnele)^[1] Regional variants are drăpnea and drepenea.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is probably inherited from Vulgar Latin *drepanella, through an intermediate *drepănea, a diminutive of drepanis (“swift, sand martin”), which is from Ancient Greek δρεπανίς (drepanís).^{[3][4][2][5][6][1][7]} The Greek bird was named from the shape of its wings, after δρεπάνη (drepánē, “sickle”), from δρέπω (drépō, “to pluck, to cut”).^[3][1] This explanation goes back to Candrea;^[8] Diculescu took the word directly from Greek, with a change of suffix.^[9][3]

Ciorănescu calls the origin uncertain: the link with the Greek word is beyond doubt, but the word, made known by Simion Florea Marian, looks suspect to him and could well be a learned reading of the Greek name.^[9] Scriban also marks it as suspect.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is Barcianu's dictionary of 1868; the DLR also lists Polizu's dictionary among the first.^[5][2] DELR dates it from Simion Florea Marian's Ornitologia of 1883, which says the bird is widespread in Europe.^[3][2][10]

Semantic evolution

The word is labelled as from Bucovina in Tiktin, Candrea and the DLR.^[5][6][2] It names the common swift, Cypselus apus or Apus apus, which folk names also call rândunică-de-ploaie “rain swallow”, lăstun-negru and lăstun-mare “black” and “great martin”.^[2][3] Scriban describes it as a large martin living on high banks, as around Galați and Brăila.^[8]

Timeline

• 1868 – Barcianu's dictionary, the first record.^[5]
• 1883 – Simion Florea Marian's Ornitologia.^[3][10]

Meanings

Noun

1. The common swift (Apus apus), a bird like a swallow, dark brown with a white throat.^[4][3][1]

Related words

• lăstun
• rândunică

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. drepnea
3. ^ 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. drepnea
4. ^ a b DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 331
5. ^ a b c d Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. drepnea
6. ^ a b Candrea, I.-A.; Densusianu, Ov. (1907–1914), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române: elementele latine (A–Putea), București
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. drepanis
8. ^ a b c Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1, 447
9. ^ a b 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. drepnea
10. ^ a b Marian, S. Fl. (1883), Ornitologia poporană română, 2 vols., Cernăuți: Tipografia R. Eckhardt, p. 1, 70