păraț

Forms

păraț n (plural părațuri)^[1]

Etymology

Ciorănescu takes it as inherited from Latin palātum (“palate”), with a singular rebuilt from the plural, following Candrea and Densusianu and the REW.^[2] Tiktin and MDA2 take it from palātium (“palace”), confused with the word for the palate, and Scriban explains it so too.^[2][3][4] Wiktionary gives the palate word influenced by the palace word, or a form passed through Vulgar Latin *palātium, and compares French palais, which also means “palate”.^[1][5] The intervocalic /l/ of the Latin word became /r/, as in scară from scāla.^[4]

The word survives south of the Danube as Aromanian pănat.^[2][5] It is a doublet of palat, a later borrowing.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Psaltirea Scheiană (c. 1573–1578), in the sense “palate”.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The word kept only the anatomical sense and is now obsolete;^[3][4][1] MDA2 records a variant pănaț, which Scriban takes for a copyist's error.^[3][4][1] Ciorănescu counts (îm)părătuș “uvula”, a word missing only in Muntenia, among its derivatives, but MDA2 derives împărătuș from împărat.^[2][6]

Timeline

• c. 1573–1578 – in the Psaltirea Scheiană, the first record.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. (anatomy, obsolete) the palate, the roof of the mouth.^[3][2][1]

Related words

• palat
• împărătuș
• Aromanian pănat

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e 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. păraț
3. ^ 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, 303
4. ^ a b c d Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 950
5. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
6. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 1188