furcătură

Forms

furcătură f (plural furcături)^[1]

Etymology

Ciorănescu takes it as formed in Romanian, from Romanian furcă + -tură.^[2][1] MDA2 too derives it from furcă, with the suffix -ătură.^[3] Candrea and Densusianu and the DA derive it instead from a Latin *furcatūra, from Latin furca (“fork”), which they find in other Romance languages: Italian forcatura, Sardinian furkadura, Occitan forcadura, Catalan forcadura, Spanish horcadura and Portuguese forcadura.^[4][5][2] Wiktionary gives both explanations.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is Candrea and Densusianu's etymological dictionary (article 696, 1907–1914), which gives it as a Banat word for the point where a mountain chain splits in two.^[3][5][4]

Semantic evolution

The word has stayed a regional term of Banat, recorded by the DA, MDA2 and the regional dictionary of Bulgăr and Constantinescu-Dobridor in the one sense.^[5][3][6] The DA compares the related furcitură and înfurcitură, which Ciorănescu glosses as “bifurcation”.^[5][2]

Timeline

• 1907–1914 – Candrea and Densusianu record the Banat word, its first record.^[3][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. (regional, Banat) A bifurcation of a mountain chain, the place where it forks.^[3][5][6]

Related words

• furcă
• furcitură
• Latin furca

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. furcă
3. ^ a b c d e Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 955
4. ^ a b c Candrea, I.-A.; Densusianu, Ov. (1907–1914), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române: elementele latine (A–Putea), București, p. s.v. furcea
5. ^ a b c d e 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. furcătúră
6. ^ a b Bulgăr, Gheorghe; Constantinescu-Dobridor, Gheorghe (2002), Dicționar de arhaisme și regionalisme, 2 vols., București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. furcătură