pace

Forms

pace f (uncountable)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin pācem (“peace”), the accusative of the Latin noun.^{[2][3][4][5][1]} Wiktionary takes the Latin word from Proto-Indo-European *peh₂ǵ-;^[1] de Vaan reconstructs *peh₂ḱ- (“agreement”), the root of pacīscor (“to make an agreement”) and pactum (“agreement”).^[6]

Its Romance cognates include Italian pace, Occitan patz, French paix, Catalan pau, Spanish paz and Portuguese paz.^[2][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first records are in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki of the early 16th century, which has pace “peace” thirteen times, among them Psalm 4:9; the DLR quotes from it „puse [în] hotarele iale pacele” “he set peace in her borders”.^[8][3][5] Tiktin cites the Codicele Voronețean (James 3:18).^[9]

Semantic evolution

Beside the end of war, the word early meant a treaty ending a war: a face, a încheia pace “to make, conclude peace”.^[9][4] It also names concord within a community, peace of mind, quiet, and in religious use the eternal rest of the dead.^[4][3] Old texts have a plural păci, as in Nicolae Costin's păcile concluded at Karlowitz.^[9][3]

In familiar speech pace is used as an adverb or interjection, “nothing, that's that, it's over”.^[4] Buescu traced this use to Latin pax and the Greek interjection Ancient Greek πάξ (páx);^[8][3] Ciorănescu finds the distinction too subtle and sees rather a formula of greeting or farewell, “the matter is settled”, like sănătate.^[2]

Romanian derivatives include nepace “unrest”, păciui and împăciui “to reconcile”, and pașnic “peaceful”;^[8][3] pacific, pacifica, pacificator and pacifism are later loans from French.^[2]

Timeline

• early 16th century – pace in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki, the first record.^[8][3]
• 16th century – in the Codicele Voronețean (James 3:18).^[9]
• 1570 – in Coresi's psalter, eighteen times.^[10]
• 1688 – Și voi da pace în pământul vostru “and I will give peace in your land” in the Bucharest Bible (Leviticus 26:6).^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. peace: a state of good understanding between peoples or states, without armed conflict or war.^[4][3][1]
2. An agreement of the warring parties to end a war; a peace treaty: a încheia pacea “to conclude peace”.^[4]
3. Concord within a community, the absence of quarrels;^[4] a face pace cu cineva “to make it up with someone”.^[4]
4. Calm, quiet, peace of mind;^[4] (religion) the eternal rest after death: a lăsa pe cineva în pace “to leave someone alone”.^[4]
5. (colloquial, adverbial) Nothing, not at all; it's over, that's that.^[4][2]

Word family

• nepace
• păciui
• împăciui
• pașnic
• pacinic

Related words

• pacific
• pacifica
• pacificator
• pacifism
• Latin pāx

Usage notes

Mergi în pace “go in peace” is a farewell, fii pe pace! means “don't worry!”, and o mie de ani pace is a familiar greeting.^[4] The plural păci is used for peace treaties.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e 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. pace
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 243
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 761
5. ^ a b Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. pace
6. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 6317
8. ^ a b c d Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Ungureanu, Mădălina; Moruz, Alexandru et al., roPsalt: Re-evaluating the Sixteenth Century Romanian Psalters (aligned corpus), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. Ps 4:9
9. ^ a b c d e Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. pace
10. ^ Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Ungureanu, Mădălina; Moruz, Alexandru et al., roPsalt: Re-evaluating the Sixteenth Century Romanian Psalters (aligned corpus), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. Ps 27:4