dreptar

Forms

dreptar n (plural dreptare)^[1] Old texts have dereptariu: Dosoftei's lives of the saints say of a hermit's dugout that „săpătura bordeiașului nu era cu dereptariul săpată, ce strâmbă și sucită” “the digging of the little hut was not done with the straight-edge, but crooked and twisted”.^[2][3] DELR records the old variants dereptar, dereptariu and direptariu.^[4] MDA2 gives the plurals dreptare and dreptaruri.^[5]

Etymology

It is most often explained as a Romanian formation, from Romanian drept + -ar, the view of DEX, MDA2 and the DLR.^[6][5][2] Ciorănescu also prefers an internal derivative with the suffix -ar.^[7] Tiktin and Scriban derive it from the verb drepta or îndrepta, and Șăineanu took it as a shortened form of îndreptar.^[3][4][8]

Cihac and Candrea–Densusianu proposed instead an inherited Vulgar Latin *dīrēctārium, from dīrēctus (“straight”), and compared Old French droitier, Catalan dreter and Spanish derechero.^[7][4][1] DELR gives both explanations side by side.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR and Tiktin date the first record to 1652, in the law code Îndreptarea legii, where it names the straight-edge of builders and carpenters.^[4][3] The old form dereptariu follows in Dosoftei's lives of the saints (1682–1686).^[5][2]

Semantic evolution

The tool sense, a riglă or square for checking that a surface or angle is true, is the core of the word.^[2][6] Dosoftei already used it figuratively for a measure or rule of conduct: in his psalter the Lord judges „cu dereptariul” “by the rule”.^[2] The figurative senses “norm”, “correct way of doing something” and “guide” are shared with îndreptar.^[5]

Regional and technical senses grew from the idea of something that keeps a thing straight or regulates it: a large wooden screw at the mill wheel that sets the speed of grinding, a piece on the plough's axle that sets the width of the furrow (Oltenia), and, in the plural, the boards that form the rungs of a ladder.^[4][5][9] In road building it named the instrument for laying out a road.^[10]

Timeline

• 1652 – first record, in Îndreptarea legii.^[4][3]
• 1664–1693 – the plural dreptare in the Slavonic–Romanian lexicon of St Petersburg.^[11]
• 1682–1686 – dereptariul in Dosoftei's lives of the saints.^[5][2]
• 1908 – dreptar “person with political rights”, a separate derivative of drept “right”.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A straightedge, ruler or square used in building and carpentry to check flat surfaces and right angles, or to lay out roads.^[6][2][1]
2. (regional) A large wooden screw at a mill wheel, used to regulate the speed of grinding.^[4][9]
3. (regional) A hook or adjusting piece on the plough.^[5][4]
4. (regional, in the plural) The horizontal boards forming the steps of a ladder.^[5]
5. (figurative) A norm or set of rules of conduct; a guide.^[5][3]

Related words

• drept
• îndreptar
• drepta

Usage notes

MDA2 and DELR list a second, rare and obsolete dreptar “person who has certain political rights, citizen, voter”, a masculine noun formed on drept “right”, first recorded in 1908.^[5][4]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. dreptar
3. ^ a b c d e Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. dreptar
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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. dreptar
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 759
6. ^ a b c DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 332
7. ^ 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. drept
8. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 1, 221
9. ^ a b Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. dreptar
10. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 2, 170
11. ^ Ungureanu, Mădălina; Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Moruz, Alexandru (eds.), eRomLex: The First Romanian Bilingual Dictionaries (17th century), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. s.v. dreptare