păduche

Forms

păduche m (plural păduchi)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin peduculus (“louse”), a variant of pēdīculus, which Petronius already uses in the form peduclus.^{[2][3][4][5][1]} The Latin word is a diminutive of pēdis (“louse”), from Proto-Indo-European *pezd-.^[1][6]

It survives in all four branches: Aromanian piduclju, Megleno-Romanian piducľu and Istro-Romanian peducľu.^{[2][7][8][9][10]} Its Romance cognates include Dalmatian pedoclo, Italian pidocchio, Occitan pezolh, French pou, Catalan poll, Spanish piojo and Portuguese piolho.^[2][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is the Palia de la Orăștie of 1581–1582, in the plague of lice of Exodus 8.^[5] MDA2 dates it from the translation of Herodotus of 1645, and Mardarie's lexicon of 1649 has păduchi for Slavonic скнипы “gnats”.^[4][12]

Semantic evolution

The word names the lice of people and animals, and with a qualifier other insects: păduche-de-lemn “bedbug”, păduche de găină “poultry mite”, and the plant lice that suck the sap of leaves and stems.^[5][3][4] Păduchele calului is a plant, the puncture vine.^[5][13] Figuratively it is a person who lives off others, and in slang a nobody.^[3][14]

Many phrases use it: a ieși ca păduchele în frunte “to push oneself forward”, from the proverb that the louse comes out on the forehead once it is full, and az, buche și-un păduche of someone who cannot read.^[4][5]

Timeline

• 1581–1582 – the Palia de la Orăștie, Exodus 8.^[5]
• 1645 – the Romanian translation of Herodotus.^[4]
• 1649 – păduchi in Mardarie's Slavonic–Romanian lexicon.^[12]
• c. 1670 – the derivative păduchios “lousy”.^[15]
• 1688 – the derivative păduchea “to delouse” in the Bucharest Bible.^[16]

Meanings

Noun

1. A louse, any of several parasitic insects living on people and some animals (Pediculus).^[3][4][1]
2. (figurative) A parasite, a person who does not work and lives off others.^[3][14]
3. A plant louse, an aphid or similar insect feeding on the sap of leaves, stems and branches.^[3][17]
4. păduche-de-lemn: the bedbug, also called ploșniță.^[3][17]

Word family

• păducherie
• păducherniță
• păduchios
• păduchea

Related words

• păducel
• Aromanian piduclju
• Latin pēdis

Usage notes

Oltenian speech has the form păduiche.^[5]

References

1. ^ a b c d 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. păduche
3. ^ a b c d e f g DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 786
4. ^ a b c d e f Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 291
5. ^ 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. păduche
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. ^ Pascu, Giorge (1925), Dictionnaire étymologique macédoroumain, 2 vols. (I: Les éléments latins et romans; II: Les éléments grecs, turcs, slaves, albanais, germaniques, magyars, néologismes, créations immédiates, obscurs), Iași: Cultura Națională, p. 1, 143
8. ^ Capidan, Theodor (1935), Meglenoromânii III: Dicționar meglenoromân, București: Academia Română, p. 221
9. ^ Kovačec, August (1998), Istrorumunjsko-hrvatski rječnik (s gramatikom i tekstovima), Pula
10. ^ Popovici, Iosif (1909), Dialectele romîne din Istria II: texte și glosar, Halle a. S., p. 134
11. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier, p. s.v. pidocchio
12. ^ 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. păduchi
13. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1, 946
14. ^ a b Volceanov, George (2007), Dicționar de argou al limbii române, București: Niculescu, p. s.v. păduche
15. ^ Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. păduchios
16. ^ Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. păduchea
17. ^ a b Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. păduche