Etymology and origin of the Romanian word păstură
Romanian has two words spelled păstură: the bees' pollen and a cloth or apron, with separate origins.[1][2][3]
păstură1 bee bread
Etymology tree of păstură1
From the same root · păstură1
Forms
păstură f (uncountable)[4]
Etymology
The word for bee bread is probably inherited from Latin pastūra (“pasture; food”), formed on pāscō (“to graze”).[4][5][2][3][6][1] Ciorănescu calls the origin doubtful, because the dictionaries defined the substance so differently: royal jelly for Damé, the droppings of bees dead of dysentery for Tiktin, inferior honey for Scriban.[1] The Latin derivation goes back to Papahagi and Pascu; the REW doubts the sense.[1][7] Tiktin and Pascu derived it instead from Vulgar Latin *pestula, from pestis (“plague”), and Philippide compared Albanian busturë.[1][4] Ciorănescu himself suggests pistūra (“grinding”), at first “chaff from milling”.[1]
Papahagi compares Aromanian pãsturã (“digested food in an animal's stomach”).[8] The Lexicon de la Buda already derived the word from the Latin noun.[9] Ungureanu cites Late Latin records of the noun.[10]
Earliest recorded meaning
The first record is the Latin–Romanian dictionary of the Anonymus Caransebesiensis (c. 1650–1700).[2][3] Klein's dictionary of 1801 has paftura (păstura) glossed “honeycomb”.[11]
Semantic evolution
The word names the pollen that bees store in the cells of the comb and feed to themselves and the brood.[2][5] It also names the resin bees gather from buds to seal the hive, propolis, also called păstrar.[2][3] In Transylvania it can mean the honeycomb itself, as in the Lexicon de la Buda (1825).[2][9] A regional form păscură is the residue of pressed comb.[2]
Timeline
- c. 1650–1700 – in the dictionary of the Anonymus Caransebesiensis.[2][3]
- 1801 – paftura “honeycomb” in Klein's dictionary.[11]
- 1825 – păstură “honeycomb”, with a Latin etymology, in the Lexicon de la Buda.[9]
- 1886 – Barcianu glosses it “Honigseim”.[12]
Meanings
Noun
păstură2 cloth, apron
- Confidence
- Unknown
- First attested
- 1825 Lexicon de la Buda
Forms
păstură f (plural păsturi)[2]
Etymology
The word for the cloth is of unknown origin.[3][1] The DLR and MDA2 compare pânzătură, and Tiktin lists it under that word, but Ciorănescu rejects the derivation from it that Tiktin and Candrea proposed.[3][2][13][1] He finds a Latin expassus, proposed by Giuglea, just as hard, and Buescu's *postūra, formed on post (“behind”), unlikely, since the suffix usually joins verb stems.[1] Scriban compares prestelcă.[6]
Earliest recorded meaning
MDA2 dates the first record to the Lexicon de la Buda (1825), which refers this păstură to pânzătură.[2][9]
Semantic evolution
In Transylvania the word names the cloth in which food is wrapped to take to the field, and also a headscarf, a handkerchief and the back panel of a woman's apron skirt.[2][3] The DLR quotes an account in which women wear two păsturi, a wider one tied on the right hip and a narrower one in front.[3]
Meanings
Noun
Related words
- Aromanian pãsturã
- Latin pastūra
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i 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. păstură
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 310
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. păstură
- ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ a b c DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 790
- ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 953
- ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 6282
- ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 832
- ^ a b c d 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. 488
- ^ Ungureanu, Dan (2024), Istoria limbii române, Chișinău: Cartier, p. 347
- ^ a b Gáldi, László (ed.) (1944), Samuel Klein: Dictionarium valachico-latinum. Primul dicționar al limbii române, Budapest: Királyi Magyar Pázmány Péter Tudományegyetemi Román Intézet (Klein's dictionary of 1801, with Gáldi's etymological study), p. 414
- ^ Barcianu, Sava Popovici (1886), Dicționar român-germân și germân-român, revised by D. P. Barcianu, part I: român-germân, Sibiu: Institut tipografic, p. 462
- ^ Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. păstură 2
- ^ Bulgăr, Gheorghe; Constantinescu-Dobridor, Gheorghe (2002), Dicționar de arhaisme și regionalisme, 2 vols., București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. păstură
Related etymologies
Cite this entry
“Păstură.” Etymologically, 12 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/ro/p%C4%83stur%C4%83. Accessed 12 Nov. 2026.
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