păcat

Forms

păcat n (plural păcate)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin peccātum (“error, sin”).^{[2][3][4][1][5]} The Latin noun is the neuter past participle of peccō (“to err, sin”).^[6][1] The word survives in all four branches: Aromanian picat, Megleno-Romanian picat and Istro-Romanian pecǫt.^[2][7][8] Its Romance cognates include Italian peccato, Catalan pecat, French péché, Spanish pecado and Portuguese pecado.^[2][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word is in the earliest Romanian psalter, the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki of the early 16th century, both as păcat (Psalm 108:6) and in the plural păcatele.^[9][3] There it means a sin, a breach of God's law.^[3] Tiktin first cites it from the Codicele Voronețean, in the Epistle of James.^[10]

Semantic evolution

From the religious sense the word spread to any wrongdoing, then to a fault or weakness of character, and to the misfortune seen as punishment for sin.^[2][4] In phrases such as e păcat “it is a sin” it came to express regret, “it is a pity”, and REW records the same shift in Italian è peccato.^[4][5] In Megleno-Romanian the regret sense has taken over: the usual meaning is “pity, compassion”, and “sin” is rare.^[8] As a euphemism, păcatul also names the devil.^[4]

Timeline

• early 16th century – păcat and păcatele in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki.^[9][3]
• c. 1563–1583 – păcat in the Codicele Voronețean.^[10]
• 1649 – păcate in Mardarie's Slavonic–Romanian lexicon.^[11]
• 1688 – păcat 143 times in the Bucharest Bible.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. A sin: a breach of a religious law or commandment; by extension any wrong or guilty act;^[4][1][3] păcatul strămoșesc “original sin”.^[4][1][3]
2. A fault, flaw or weakness, a vice.^[4][2]
3. A misfortune or calamity;^[4] din păcate “unfortunately”.^[4][2]
4. (euphemistic) The devil: al păcatelor “devilish, terrible”.^[4]

Interjection

1. What a pity!, too bad!: ce păcat!, păcat că….^[4][1]

Word family

• păcătos
• păcătoși
• păcătoșie
• păcătui
• păcătuire

Related words

• Aromanian picat
• Latin peccātum

Usage notes

Common phrases: a cădea în păcat “to fall into sin”, a trage păcatele cuiva “to suffer for someone else's fault”, lasă-mă în pace, la păcatele mele “leave me alone”.^[4] A separate onomatopoeic păcat imitates the cry of the guinea fowl;^[3][13] MDA2 first finds it in Damé's dictionary of 1893.^[3][13]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f 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. păcat
3. ^ 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. 2, 289
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 785
5. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 6323
6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 840
8. ^ a b Capidan, Theodor (1935), Meglenoromânii III: Dicționar meglenoromân, București: Academia Română, p. 220
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 108:6
10. ^ a b Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. păcat
11. ^ 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. păcate
12. ^ Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Gen 20:9
13. ^ a b Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. păcat