păstaie

Forms

păstaie f (plural păstăi)^[1]

Etymology

Its origin is uncertain.^[2] The most widely cited view takes it as inherited from Vulgar Latin *pistālia, from pistō (“to pound”), a frequentative of pīnsō (“to stamp, crush”), because pods are beaten or threshed to free the seeds: Candrea and Densusianu, Pascu and Graur proposed it, and Scriban and Wiktionary follow it.^[2][3][4][1] The Aromanian form pãstalji seems to point to a Latin source ending in ⟨-alia⟩.^[2][5] Pușcariu proposed *quassitālia, from quassō (“to shatter”), and Giuglea *pyxitālia, from pyxis (“box, capsule”).^[2][1] Ciorănescu finds none of these explanations sufficient.^[2]

Tiktin calls the word of unknown origin and, like DEX, DLR and MDA2, compares Albanian pistaë.^[6][7][8][9] Candrea derived it from the Albanian word.^[2] Wiktionary lists further views of the Albanian word: a loan from the same Latin form, a compound of bisht (“tail”), or a source shared with Latin pistacium (“pistachio”).^[1] According to Ciorănescu and Scriban, Ukrainian borrowed the word from Romanian.^[2][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to 1585.^[6] MDA2's first record is Dosoftei's lives of the saints (1682–1686), quoted by Tiktin with the Moldavian form: „mânca păstări de un feliu de bob sălbatec” “he ate pods of a kind of wild bean”.^[9][6]

Semantic evolution

The word names the dry fruit of leguminous plants, splitting into two valves; in particular the green pod of beans, eaten as a vegetable, and by extension, regionally, beans themselves.^[8][9] Candrea and Densusianu thought it was first a collective name for all pulses and only later came to mean the husk.^[3] Regional senses include the carob, the catkin of the walnut or hazel, and hot peppers.^[9]

The western form is păstaie and the Moldavian one păstare; the Lexicon of Buda and the Anonymus Caransebesiensis have postaie and păstaică.^[4][6][3]

Timeline

• 1585 – first record.^[6]
• 1673 – in a Slavonic–Romanian lexicon, glossing стручецъ “pod”.^[10]
• 1682–1686 – păstări in Dosoftei's lives of the saints.^[9][6]
• 1825 – păstae in the Lexicon of Buda, with Latin siliqua.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. pod: the fruit of leguminous plants, of two valves enclosing the seeds; a teacă.^[7][9][1]
2. A green bean pod, eaten as a vegetable: ciorbă de păstăi “green bean soup”.^[9][8]
3. (regional) carob; a catkin of the walnut or hazel;^[9] (in the plural) hot peppers.^[9]

Word family

• păstăios

Related words

• Aromanian pãstalji
• Albanian bishtajë

Usage notes

Variants: Moldavian păstare, regional păstău, postaie and others.^[9][2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e 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. păstaie
3. ^ a b c Candrea, I.-A.; Densusianu, Ov. (1907–1914), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române: elementele latine (A–Putea), București, p. 220
4. ^ a b c Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1, 953
5. ^ Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net), p. 809
6. ^ 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. păstaie
7. ^ a b DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 790
8. ^ a b c Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. păstaie
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 309
10. ^ 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. păstaie
11. ^ 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. 487