pătură

Forms

pătură f (plural pături)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *pittula (“small cake”) according to DEX, MDA2, Scriban, the REW and Wiktionary, a diminutive of *pitta, which also gave pată.^{[2][3][4][5][1]} Pușcariu and Candrea had proposed this etymology.^[6][7] The REW sets the Romanian word beside dialect words of southern Italy for a shirt tail.^[5]

Ciorănescu rejects it and derives the word from Romanian pat (“ground, covering”): from the plural ⟨paturi⟩ a new singular was made, on the pattern of ⟨mături⟩ beside mătură.^[6] Șăineanu also derived it from that word.^[8] Ciorănescu lists the other proposals as unconvincing: Ancient Greek πέταλον (pétalon, “leaf”) (Diculescu) and Vulgar Latin *coactile through a form *quactula (Giuglea).^[6]

Aromanian has the same word as petur “leaf of pastry”.^[6][9][10] Ciorănescu holds that Albanian petulë, Bulgarian петура (petura, “pastry sheet for banitsa”) and Modern Greek πέτουρον (pétouron, “layered pie”) came from Romanian or Aromanian.^[6][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

Klein's dictionary of 1801 has patura, glossed with the Hungarian and German words for a layer.^[12] MDA2 dates the first record to the Lexicon de la Buda of 1825, where pătură is glossed “leaf, fold”.^[3][13]

Semantic evolution

The sense of a layer that covers something evenly is the oldest one recorded.^[12][3] From it come the layers that make up a whole, a geological stratum, and in Transylvania a sheet of dough for pies and noodles.^[2][3] MDA2 lists regional senses that keep the idea of layers: a pie of several sheets of pastry, and a dish of polenta and cheese laid in layers.^[3] Botany uses pătură vie for the low plants of a forest floor and pătură moartă for the litter of dead leaves.^[3]

The blanket is a thick woven cover, of wool or other fibres, used to wrap oneself in or to cover a horse.^[2][6] Figuratively the word names a social stratum and the people in it, as in pătură socială.^[2][14] Ciorănescu lists the derivatives păturică and the verb (îm)pături “to lay in layers, to fold”.^[6]

Timeline

• 1801 – patura “layer” in Klein's dictionary.^[12]
• 1825 – pătură “leaf, fold” in the Lexicon de la Buda.^[13][3]
• 1929 – Șăineanu's dictionary gives the senses “woollen blanket”, “horse cloth” and “layer”.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A blanket: a piece of thick woven wool, cotton or synthetic cloth, used mostly as a cover.^[2][1]
2. A layer of a substance covering something evenly, or one of several layers forming a whole.^[2][3]
3. (geology) A stratum.^[2]
4. (regional) A sheet of dough.^[2][3]
5. (figurative) A social class or group, and the people in it.^[2][3]

Word family

• pături
• păturică
• împături

Related words

• pat
• pată
• Aromanian petur

Usage notes

Old regional texts also use the word for a fold in a blouse.^[6][3] Pătură socială is the usual term for a social stratum.^[14]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. 791
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 314
4. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 955
5. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 6548
6. ^ 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. pătură
7. ^ Pușcariu, Sextil (1905), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der rumänischen Sprache I: Lateinisches Element, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 113
8. ^ a b Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 1, 471
9. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 839
10. ^ Pascu, Giorge (1925), Dictionnaire étymologique macédoroumain, 2 vols. (I: Les éléments latins et romans; II: Les éléments grecs, turcs, slaves, albanais, germaniques, magyars, néologismes, créations immédiates, obscurs), Iași: Cultura Națională, p. 1, 142
11. ^ Georgiev, Vladimir I. et al. (eds.) (1971–), Bălgarski etimologičen rečnik, Sofija: Izdatelstvo na Bălgarskata akademija na naukite, p. 5, 205
12. ^ a b c 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
13. ^ a b 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. 490
14. ^ a b Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. pătură