frate

Forms

frate m (plural frați)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin frāter (“brother”), continuing either the nominative or the accusative frātrem, which lost its second /r/.^[2][3][1] The Latin noun comes from Proto-Indo-European *bʰréh₂tēr.^[1]

The word survives in all four branches: Aromanian frate, Megleno-Romanian frati and Istro-Romanian frǫte.^[2][4][5][6] The Romance cognates include Dalmatian frutro, Italian frate, French frère and Occitan fraire.^[2][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's earliest date is a document of 1355.^[8] In Romanian texts the noun is in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki of the early 16th century (Psalm 34:17 and elsewhere) and in the Codicele Voronețean, where MDA2 dates it.^[9][3]

Semantic evolution

Besides the brother by blood, the word has long named a friend or companion, and it is used in familiar address to anyone;^[7][8] REW notes this vocative use of the Latin word in Romanian, Istro-Romanian, southern Italian, Old French and Old Provençal.^[7][8] In the church it is the title of a monk, especially a lay brother.^[10][11] Agriculture uses it for a side shoot of cereals.^[10]

Folk custom gave the word several compounds: frate de cruce “sworn brother”, frați de lapte “foster brothers”, and frați sufletești “children baptised in the same water or by the same godparents”, who might not marry each other.^[8][10] The derivatives frățesc “brotherly” and frăție “brotherhood” are native, while fratern, fraternitate and fraterniza are later loans from Latin and French.^[2]

Timeline

• 1355 – the earliest date Tiktin gives, from a document.^[8]
• early 16th century – frate, fratele and fraților in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki.^[9]
• c. 1563–1583 – in the Codicele Voronețean.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. brother: a male person considered in relation to another person born of the same parents, or of one of them; in the plural, siblings.^[10][1]
2. A familiar, friendly form of address to anyone;^[10][1] (colloquial) dude.^[10][1]
3. A title monks give each other; a lay brother who helps with the work of a monastery.^[10]
4. A side shoot that grows from the lower nodes of a cereal stalk.^[10]

Word family

• frățesc
• frățește
• frăție
• frățime
• frățior
• înfrăți
• fratern
• confrate
• frățâne

Related words

• fârtat
• soră
• Aromanian frati
• Latin frāter

Usage notes

The plural is frați.^[10] Fixed expressions include frate bun “full brother”, frate vitreg “half-brother” and frate de cruce “sworn brother”, and the proverb frate, frate, dar brânza-i pe bani “brother or not, the cheese costs money”.^[10][8]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d 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. frate
3. ^ a b c Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 939
4. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 468
5. ^ Saramandu, Nicolae (coord.) et al. (2010–), Dicționarul dialectului meglenoromân, general și etimologic, fascicles in Fonetică și dialectologie XXIX–, p. 173
6. ^ Byhan, Arthur (1899), Istrorumänisches Glossar, Sechster Jahresbericht des Instituts für rumänische Sprache zu Leipzig: 174–366, p. 220
7. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 3485
8. ^ 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. frate
9. ^ a b Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Ungureanu, Mădălina; Moruz, Alexandru et al., roPsalt: Re-evaluating the Sixteenth Century Romanian Psalters (aligned corpus), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. Ps 34:17
10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 412
11. ^ Academia Română (1913–1949), Dicționarul limbii române (DA), ed. Sextil Pușcariu, tom I (A–B, C, D–De) and tom II (F–I, J–Lojniță), București: Socec / Universul / Monitorul Oficial și Imprimeriile Statului; page scans at cflr-scans.solirom.ro, p. s.v. frate