păcură

Forms

păcură f (uncountable)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin picula (“pitch”), a diminutive of pix (“pitch”).^{[2][3][4][1][5]} The Latin word comes from Proto-Indo-European *pik- (“pitch”).^[6][1] Its Romance cognates include Dalmatian pecla, Italian pegola and Occitan pegola, all meaning “pitch”.^[2][1][7]

Cihac and Weigand derived the word itself from Slavonic, an explanation Ciorănescu rejects.^[2][8] The old sense “hell” has been put down to Old Church Slavonic пькълъ (pĭkŭlŭ, “pitch; hell”) (Sandfeld, the REW), and Tiktin adds Hungarian pokol (“hell”) as a second model.^[2][9][10] Ciorănescu finds the loan sense needless: the senses “fog” and “darkness” grew out of the black pitch, “hell” out of “eternal darkness”, and folk belief set hell under the ground, from which the black liquid springs.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to 1440, among the Romanian words of the Slavonic documents.^[9] MDA2's first Romanian text is the translation of Herodotus of 1645.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The word meant the black pitch and tar of the earth: crude oil, and the heavy oil and cart grease made from it or from the resin of trees.^[9][4][11] Today it is above all the technical name of the thick residue left after distilling crude oil, burned as fuel and made into lubricants and asphalt.^[3][4]

The 17th-century church texts of the Banat, Crișana and Transylvania used it for hell: the Catechism of 1648 says that Christ died, was buried and „pogorî pre păcure” “went down into hell”.^[12][9] Regionally it also means a thick fog or a cloud of dust, and figuratively deep darkness, a great sin or a great quantity.^[4][2] Negru ca păcura “black as pitch” is a common comparison.^[4][13]

Hungarian borrowed the word as pakura “cart grease, crude oil”, recorded from 1784, and Bulgarian as пакура (pakura).^[14][15][2]

Timeline

• 1440 – the first record, in the Slavonic documents.^[9]
• 1645 – the Romanian translation of Herodotus.^[4]
• 1648 – păcure “hell” in the Catechism of 1648.^[12][9]
• 1784 – Hungarian pakura, borrowed from Romanian.^[14]
• 1825 – the Lexicon de la Buda gives it as vapour and as cart grease.^[16]
• 1847 – the derivative păcurar “oil man” in Anton Pann.^[17]

Meanings

Noun

1. A thick black or dark brown residue of the distillation of crude oil, used as fuel and to make heavy diesel oil, lubricating oils and asphalt; fuel oil.^[3][4][18]
2. Crude oil.^[4][3][1]
3. A thick sticky liquid from the bark of trees, used to grease cart axles; tar.^[4][9]
4. (figurative) Pitch darkness;^[4] negru ca păcura “pitch black”.^[4]
5. (obsolete) hell.^[4][12][1]
6. (regional, Transylvania) A thick fog; a cloud of dust.^[4][2]

Word family

• păcurar
• păcuros
• împăcura
• păcorniță

Related words

• Italian pegola
• Latin pix

Usage notes

The word is mostly used in the singular;^[4] MDA2 records a rare plural păcure.^[4] It is not the same word as păcure “flock”.^[19]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. păcură
3. ^ a b c d DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 785
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 290
5. ^ Pușcariu, Sextil (1905), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der rumänischen Sprache I: Lateinisches Element, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 108
6. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
7. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier, p. s.v. pegola
8. ^ Cihac, A. de (1879), Dictionnaire d'étymologie daco-romane II: Éléments slaves, magyars, turcs, grecs-moderne et albanais, Frankfurt am Main, p. 236
9. ^ a b c d e f g Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. păcură
10. ^ Derksen, Rick (2008), Etymological Dictionary of the Slavic Inherited Lexicon, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 4, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 426
11. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 1, 453
12. ^ a b c Costinescu, Mariana; Georgescu, Magdalena; Zgraon, Florentina (1987), Dicționarul limbii române literare vechi (1640–1780): termeni regionali, București: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică, p. 1, 218
13. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 3, 345
14. ^ a b Gerstner, Károly (ed.) (2006–), Új magyar etimológiai szótár, Budapest: Nyelvtudományi Kutatóközpont; online at uesz.nytud.hu
15. ^ Benkő, Loránd (ed.) (1967–1976), A magyar nyelv történeti-etimológiai szótára, 3 vols., Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, p. 3, 66
16. ^ Lesicon românescu-latinescu-ungurescu-nemțescu quare de mai mulți autori, în cursul a trideci și mai multor ani s-au lucrat (1825), Buda: Typographia Universității (the Lexicon of Buda, ed. Petru Maior et al.), p. 476
17. ^ Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. păcurar 2
18. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. păcură
19. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 291