gât

Forms

gât n (plural gâturi)^[1] In Crișana the word has the form gârt.^[2]

Etymology

Its origin is uncertain.^[2][3] In MDA2's view it is borrowed from Old Church Slavonic глътъ (glŭtŭ),^[4] and Tiktin and Scriban also derive it from this Slavic word, which they give as a reconstructed form.^[5][6] Wiktionary connects it with Proto-Slavic *gъltъ, related to *glъtati (“to swallow, devour”), and compares Slovene golt.^[1] Șăineanu took the word as reduced from an earlier gâlt, the form still seen in gâtlej.^[7][1] Miklosich, Cihac, Densusianu and Conev preferred the Slavic source too.^[2]

Others start from Latin guttur (“throat”), or from its plural guttura, from whose Romanian outcome a new singular would have been made by analogy;^[1] Diez, Cipariu and Densusianu held this view.^[2][1] Ciorănescu finds the Latin source no harder than the Slavic one, but in both cases the vowel /ɨ/ is a problem.^[2] Since guturai kept the Latin /u/, he suspects a crossing with Slavonic гръло (grŭlo, “throat”) or with the Slavic words of the same family, such as Serbo-Croatian gut.^[2] The DA calls the etymology unknown: neither the vowel of the Latin word nor the loss of /l/ from the Slavic one can be explained.^[3] It suggests that the Latin word first gave ⟨*gut⟩, which then took its present form under the influence of the Slavic word.^[3] Istro-Romanian gut may keep the old form, or it may be a recent loan from Croatian, where the word means “gullet”.^[3][8][9] French goitre goes back to a derivative of the same Latin word.^[2][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to 1555, in the Slavonic–Romanian documents.^[5] Mardarie's Slavonic–Romanian lexicon of 1649 has the form gît.^[10] The Bucharest Bible of 1688 uses gâtul “the neck” for the neck on which a yoke is laid, as in Genesis 27:40.^[11]

Semantic evolution

The basic sense is the part of the body joining the head to the trunk, and with it the inside of the neck, the throat.^[12][3] From the act of swallowing comes the sense “a gulp, a draught”: un gât de vin “a swallow of wine”.^[6][5] By likeness the word names the narrow part of objects, the neck of a bottle or of a violin, a tube or a flue, and Scriban also records gâturile Carpaților, the passes of the Carpathians.^[6][3][2]

Many phrases grew around it: a strânge de gât “to strangle”, a-și rupe gâtul “to break one's neck; to ruin oneself”, a se arunca de gâtul cuiva “to fall on someone's neck”.^[12][4] Tiktin notes the familiar Wallachian a fi de gât cu cineva “to be on close terms with someone”.^[5] A face gât “to make a fuss, to put on airs” gave Ciorănescu's sense “arrogance, vanity”.^[12][2]

Timeline

• 1555 – a record in the Slavonic–Romanian documents.^[5]
• 1649 – gît in Mardarie's Slavonic–Romanian lexicon.^[10]
• 1688 – gâtul “the neck” in the Bucharest Bible.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. The neck: the part of the body that joins the head to the trunk.^[12][1]
2. The inside of the neck, the throat; the gâtlej.^[12][4][1]
3. A gulp: as much drink as is swallowed at once.^[12][6]
4. The narrow part of an object that resembles a neck, such as the neck of a bottle.^[12][5]

Word family

• gâtar
• gâtos
• gâtui
• gâtuitură
• îngâtui
• gâtiță

Related words

• gâlt
• gâtlan
• gâtlej
• guturai
• Old Church Slavonic глътъ (glŭtŭ)
• Latin guttur

Usage notes

Common phrases: a da pe gât “to drink down quickly”, a fi sătul până în gât “to be fed up”, and a-i sta în gât “to stick in one's throat; to be unable to bear something”.^[12]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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. gât
3. ^ a b c d e f 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. gât
4. ^ 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, 979
5. ^ 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. gât
6. ^ a b c d Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 562
7. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 269
8. ^ Kovačec, August (1998), Istrorumunjsko-hrvatski rječnik (s gramatikom i tekstovima), Pula, p. s.v. gut
9. ^ Popovici, Iosif (1909), Dialectele romîne din Istria II: texte și glosar, Halle a. S., p. 114
10. ^ a b 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. gît
11. ^ a b Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Facerea 27:40
12. ^ a b c d e f g h DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 431