laț

Forms

laț n (plural lațuri)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *laceus, the popular form of Latin laqueus (“loop of rope, noose, snare”).^{[2][3][4][5][1]} Ciorănescu and the Academy dictionary give the classical form itself, citing Diez, Pușcariu and the REW.^[6][7] De Vaan finds no etymology for the Latin word and rejects a link with laciō (“to entice”).^[8]

It survives south of the Danube as Aromanian alaț and Megleno-Romanian laț.^[6][9][10] The Romance cognates include Italian laccio, French lacs, Occitan latz, Spanish lazo and Portuguese laço.^[6][3] Ciorănescu also compares Albanian lak (“noose, snare”); whether that word is a Latin loan or native Albanian is debated.^[6][11][12] Wiktionary lists lasou “lasso” as a doublet.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is Coresi's Praxiu of 1563, in the Second Epistle of Peter;^[2][5] MDA2 cites Coresi's Molitvenic of 1564.^[2][5] The Slavonic–Romanian lexicons from 1649 on use it to gloss Slavonic words for a net and a snare.^[13]

Semantic evolution

The core sense is a running knot that tightens round something, and the snare made of such a loop for birds and animals.^[4][2] The 1688 Bible uses it often for the snares of the wicked, especially in the Psalms.^[14] From the snare come the phrases a întinde cuiva laț “to set a trap for someone” and a cădea în laț “to fall into the trap”.^[5] Ciorănescu also records a noose for hanging and, in slang, “necktie”.^[6] In Aromanian the word also means a stitch and a joint of the body.^[9]

Timeline

• 1563 – laț in Coresi's Praxiu.^[2]
• 1564 – laț in Coresi's Molitvenic.^[5]
• 1649 – laț in Mardarie's Slavonic–Romanian lexicon.^[13]
• 1688 – laț and lațuri in the Bucharest Bible.^[14]

Meanings

Noun

1. A noose, a running knot at the end of a string or rope that can be pulled tight round something.^[4][1]
2. A snare for catching birds or animals, made of a loop of string or wire.^[4][1]
3. (figurative) A trap, a scheme against someone.^[5]
4. (slang) A necktie.^[6]

Related words

• lasou
• Aromanian alaț

Usage notes

Besides lațuri, the old plural lațe occurs in Cantemir.^[2] DEX lists a second laț only as a variant of leaț “lath”, a word from German Latte through Transylvanian Saxon laz, partly through Hungarian léc;^[4][6][7][5] MDA2, which dates it to 1634, calls it of unknown origin.^[4][6][7][5]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. laț
3. ^ a b Candrea, I.-A.; Densusianu, Ov. (1907–1914), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române: elementele latine (A–Putea), București, p. s.v. laț
4. ^ a b c d e f DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 578
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 1316
6. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. laț
7. ^ a b c 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. laț
8. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
9. ^ a b Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 77
10. ^ Capidan, Theodor (1935), Meglenoromânii III: Dicționar meglenoromân, București: Academia Română, p. 166
11. ^ Demiraj, Bardhyl (ed.), Digitales philologisch-etymologisches Wörterbuch des Albanischen, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München
12. ^ Demiraj, Bardhyl (1997), Albanische Etymologien: Untersuchungen zum albanischen Erbwortschatz, Amsterdam / Atlanta: Rodopi (Leiden Studies in Indo-European 7)
13. ^ 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. laț
14. ^ a b Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Psaltirea 9:15