păianjen

Forms

păianjen m (plural păianjeni)^[1]

Etymology

It is a Slavic loan, though the sources differ on the exact Slavic form.^[2][3][4] Tiktin and Ciorănescu take it as borrowed from Old Church Slavonic паѫкъ (paǫkŭ, “spider”), explaining the ending ⟨-jen⟩, ⟨-jin(e)⟩ by паѫчина (paǫčina, “spider's web”), which Romanian also took as painjină “cobweb”.^[2][3] DEX derives it from a Slavonic form it writes *pajoncina, comparing Bulgarian паяжина (pajažina), and Wiktionary from an unattested *паѭжина (*pajǫžina), built on the word for spider with the suffix -ина (-ina).^[4][1] The Slavonic records have this form and паѭчина (pajǫčina) for the spider's web.^[5][6] The Bulgarian etymological dictionary takes the Romanian ⟨painjină⟩ from Bulgarian, where the /č/ of the older form was replaced by /ž/.^[7] The Slavic word goes back to Proto-Slavic *paǫkъ (“spider”), formed *pa- and *ǫkъ (“hook”).^[6][1][8]

South of the Danube the same Slavic word gives Aromanian pangu and Megleno-Romanian puiangu.^[3][9] Ciorănescu also lists the shorter paing, the form he uses as headword.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is the form painjina in Psalm 89:10 of the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki, from the early 16th century; the later 16th-century psalters of Coresi and the Psaltirea Scheiană have it too.^[10][11] Tiktin dates the word to the Psaltirea Scheiană and gives the old painjină the sense “spider's web”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In the old language the word named both the animal and its web: a manuscript of 1654 compares cunning schemes falling apart to păianjeni, cobwebs.^[2] A Slavonic–Romanian lexicon of the 1660s renders the Slavonic word for “spider” by păianjin, and the Bible of 1688 has păianjen.^[12][13] Its regional forms are many: Tiktin lists Moldavian painjen, paingăn and paing and Banat panjen(e), and MDA2 records several dozen more.^[2][11] In the plural it still means the cobweb itself.^[4] Technical and sports senses are modern: a fishing tool used in oil wells, and the top corners of the goal in football, handball and hockey.^[4][11] Regional usage calls a pole laid across the top of haystacks a păianjen, and folk belief used two crossed black threads, called painjină, laid over a corpse so that it would not become a ghost.^[11]

Timeline

• c. 1500-1520 – painjina in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki, Psalm 89:10.^[10][11]
• 1570 – painjina in Coresi's psalter, Psalm 38:15.^[14]
• c. 1660 – păianjin for Slavonic паѹкъ (paukŭ) in a Slavonic–Romanian lexicon.^[12]
• 1688 – păianjen in the Bucharest Bible, Job 8:14.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. spider: any of the arachnids with eight long legs and an unsegmented abdomen that catch small insects in a web spun from a sticky secretion.^[4][11]
2. (in the plural) A cobweb; păienjeniș.^[4][11]
3. (technology) A tool for catching and pulling up small pieces or broken cable that have fallen into an oil well.^[4][11]
4. (sports) Either of the top corners of the goal in football, handball, water polo or hockey.^[4][15]
5. (regional) A pole laid on top of a haystack or a straw roof to protect it from the wind.^[4]

Word family

• păienjeniș
• păienjeni

Related words

• paing
• painjină
• Aromanian pangu

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. păianjen
3. ^ a b c d 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. paing
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 786
5. ^ Kurz, Josef; Hauptová, Zoe (eds.) (1958–1997), Slovník jazyka staroslověnského / Lexicon linguae palaeoslovenicae, 4 vols. + supplements, Praha: Academia; digital ed. gorazd.org
6. ^ a b Derksen, Rick (2008), Etymological Dictionary of the Slavic Inherited Lexicon, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 4, Leiden / Boston: Brill
7. ^ Georgiev, Vladimir I. et al. (eds.) (1971–), Bălgarski etimologičen rečnik, Sofija: Izdatelstvo na Bălgarskata akademija na naukite, p. 5, 120
8. ^ Vasmer, Max (1964–1973), Ètimologičeskij slovar' russkogo jazyka, transl. and suppl. by O. N. Trubačev, 4 vols., Moskva: Progress
9. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 814
10. ^ 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 89:10
11. ^ 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, 294
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. păianjin
13. ^ a b Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Iov 8:14
14. ^ 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 38:15
15. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. păianjen