păioară

Forms

păioară f (plural păioare)^[1] In Maramureș the form pălioară is used: „Era pălioara de pe mort, de pe obraz” “it was the veil from the dead man, from his face”.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin palliola (“small cloak, hood”), the Latin plural taken as a feminine singular.^[3][4][5][6] Wiktionary writes it as Vulgar Latin *palliōla.^[1] The Latin word is a diminutive of pallium (“cloak, covering”).^[6][7] The etymology goes back to Pușcariu and to Candrea and Densusianu, and the REW has it too;^[3][8] Tiktin notes that the sounds match the Latin word.^[3][8] Weigand derived the word from pai (“straw”), which Ciorănescu rejects, citing Rosetti.^[3]

Pușcariu points out that the other Romance languages have the word only as a learned borrowing, such as Old French paile (“outer garment, carpet”) and Spanish palio (“bishop's mantle”).^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin and MDA2 find the first record in Dosoftei's lives of the saints (1682–1686), where a woman's costly veil, păioră, is mentioned.^[8][4]

Semantic evolution

Tiktin glosses the word “crape, gauze”, and Pușcariu “(death) veil”.^[8][7] In folk use it is the veil country women wear against the sun or, of silk, on feast days, the fine sheer cloth of flax, cotton or silk it is made of, a shirt of such cloth, and the cloth laid over a dead person's face.^[4][3] A folk charm has „Nouă fete bete, Cu cămăși de păioară îmbrăcate” “nine drunk girls dressed in shirts of gauze”.^[8] Budai-Deleanu used it for a spider's web in the Țiganiada: „Cu cea pre sumțirică păioară A păinginului” “with the very thin gauze of the spider”.^[9][4]

Timeline

• 1682–1686 – a woman's veil in Dosoftei's lives of the saints.^[4][8]

Meanings

Noun

1. (regional) a fine, sheer fabric of linen, cotton or silk.^[5][10]
2. (regional) a thin veil, worn by country women against the sun or on feast days.^[5][4]
3. (regional) the cloth covering a dead person's face, a shroud.^[3][4]

Related words

• Latin pallium

Usage notes

MDA2 records the regional variants păiere, părioară, peioară, perioară and puioară, and a regional plural păiori.^[4]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Ștef, Dorin (2021), Dicționar de regionalisme și arhaisme din județul Maramureș, 3rd ed., Baia Mare
3. ^ 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. păioară
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 786
6. ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 947
7. ^ a b c Pușcariu, Sextil (1905), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der rumänischen Sprache I: Lateinisches Element, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 109
8. ^ 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. păioară
9. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 3, 349
10. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional