făta

Forms

făta (third-person singular present fată, past participle fătat, third-person subjunctive fete) 1st conjugation^[1] The stem vowel alternates in the present: first person făt, second person feți, third person fată, subjunctive să fete.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin fētō (“to bring forth young, breed”), a verb made from fētus (“bearing young, fruitful”).^{[3][4][5][1][6]} Ciorănescu follows Pușcariu, Candrea and Densusianu, the REW and the DA.^[3][7]

The verb survives south of the Danube: Aromanian fet, with the noun fitare (“giving birth”), and Megleno-Romanian fet.^{[3][8][9][10]} Its Romance cognates are dialectal: Sardinian fedare and Sicilian fitari, the Sicilian and Abruzzese forms with the special sense “to lay eggs”.^[3][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to the Palia de la Orăștie of 1581–1582, in Genesis 4:4.^[2] MDA2's first record is later, in Dosoftei's verse Psalter.^[5] From the start the verb is used of animals bearing young.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

The verb is used of mammals, cows, ewes, mares and bitches: a cow „a făta peste o lună” “will calve in a month”, says a manuscript of 1818.^[2] The present participle fătătoare describes a pregnant ewe.^[2] In Cantemir a speaker in labour compares himself with ewes about to lamb.^[2]

Applied to people the verb is pejorative, and figuratively it means “to produce” with irony: Negruzzi mocks those who spend their time to „făta niște stihuri schilăvoase” “give birth to some puny verses”.^[5][11][12] Of its derivatives, fătăciune “lambing” is explained by Ciorănescu as a Romanian formation with the suffix -ciune, while Candrea–Densusianu and the REW take it from Latin fetationem.^[3]

Timeline

• 1581–1582 – first recorded, in the Palia de la Orăștie (Genesis 4:4).^[2]
• 1671 – in Dosoftei's verse Psalter, the first record MDA2 gives.^[5]
• 1688 – the forms făt and fătară in the Bucharest Bible.^[13]
• 1818 – a făta of a cow in a manuscript of folk verse.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. Of mammals: to give birth, to bear young; to calve, foal, lamb, whelp.^[4][1]
2. (pejorative) Of people: to give birth.^[5]
3. (figurative, ironic) To produce, to turn out.^[5][12]

Word family

• fătăciune
• fătat
• fătătoare

Related words

• făt
• Aromanian fet
• Latin fētō

Usage notes

CADE records the saying când îi dai îi fată vaca, când îi ceri îi moare vițelul, said of people who find every excuse not to return what they borrowed.^[12]

References

1. ^ a b c 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. făta
3. ^ a b c d e 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. făta
4. ^ a b DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 385
5. ^ a b c d e f g Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 886
6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 3271
8. ^ Pascu, Giorge (1925), Dictionnaire étymologique macédoroumain, 2 vols. (I: Les éléments latins et romans; II: Les éléments grecs, turcs, slaves, albanais, germaniques, magyars, néologismes, créations immédiates, obscurs), Iași: Cultura Națională, p. 1, 85
9. ^ Saramandu, Nicolae (coord.) et al. (2010–), Dicționarul dialectului meglenoromân, general și etimologic, fascicles in Fonetică și dialectologie XXIX–, p. 163
10. ^ Capidan, Theodor (1935), Meglenoromânii III: Dicționar meglenoromân, București: Academia Română, p. 127
11. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 1, 245
12. ^ a b c Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. făta
13. ^ Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Ieremia 14:5