pantof

Forms

pantof m (plural pantofi)^[1] Regional variants are a feminine pantoflă (plural pantofle) and pantoflu;^[2][3] Asachi has the feminine in the proverb „sub pantofla ei să stai” “you must stay under her slipper”.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from German Pantoffel (“slipper”) according to DEX, DLR, MDA2 and Wiktionary.^[4][2][3][1] Tiktin and Ciorănescu give Italian pantofola beside the German word, and Scriban lists the Italian, German, French and Spanish forms.^[5][6][7] South of the Danube the word is Aromanian pandoflă and Megleno-Romanian pandofli “slippers”;^{[6][8][9][10]} Ciorănescu takes these forms through Modern Greek, and Pascu derives the Aromanian word from Modern Greek παντόφλα (pantófla), while Papahagi gives Italian.^{[6][8][9][10]}

The German word was borrowed in the 15th century: Kluge takes it from the Italian word, Pfeifer from Middle French pantoufle, and both call its further origin uncertain.^[11][12] Pfeifer and DELI doubt the old explanation as a Byzantine compound “all of cork”;^[12][13] Nocentini derives it from French patte (“paw”), and Pfeifer thinks this possible.^[14][12] The Italian word is recorded as pantofla before 1502.^[13]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is a letter of 1783 published by Iorga, which asks how large the pantofi should be for a young lady's foot.^[5][2] A document of 1806 mentions „pantofi de piele fără toc” “leather shoes without a heel”.^[2] MDA2's date of 1901 is that of Iorga's edition.^[3]

Semantic evolution

I. Golescu set pantofi apart from iminei: the same shape, but round at the toe rather than long.^[2] Early in the 20th century the word still meant a light shoe, lower than a boot, worn indoors or in summer.^[7][15] Today it is the ordinary street shoe of leather, synthetic material or cloth that covers the foot up to the ankle.^[4] In Transylvania, Maramureș and Bukovina it can still mean a slipper, a papuc.^[2]

An old phrase a sta sub pantoful cuiva “to be under someone's thumb” matched a fi sub papuc.^[2][3] Regional plant names use it: pantoful-doamnei “lady's slipper orchid” (Cypripedium calceolus) and pantofii-doamnei (Impatiens roylei).^[2][3] Fashion journalism added compounds such as pantof-platou and pantof-platformă “platform shoe”.^[16]

Timeline

• 1783 – pantofi in a letter published by Iorga, the first record.^[5][2]
• 1806 – pantofi de piele fără toc “leather shoes without a heel”.^[2]
• 1825 – in the Lexicon de la Buda.^[2]
• 1870 – Costinescu glosses it as a shoe without a leg, French soulier.^[17]
• 2008 – pantofi-platou “platform shoes”.^[16]
• 2010 – pantofi-platformă “platform shoes”.^[16]

Meanings

Noun

1. A shoe: street footwear of leather, synthetic material or cloth that covers the foot up to the ankle;^[4][18][1] pantofi de sport “sports shoes”.^[4][18][1]
2. (regional, Transylvania, Maramureș, Bukovina) A slipper, papuc.^[2][3]
3. (botany, regional) In pantoful-doamnei, the lady's slipper orchid (Cypripedium calceolus).^[3]

Word family

• pantofar
• pantofărie

Related words

• papuc
• Aromanian pandoflă

Usage notes

The word is masculine, with the plural pantofi.^[4] The old phrase a sta sub pantoful cuiva “to be dominated by someone” is now replaced by a fi sub papucul cuiva.^[2][3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. pantof
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, 258
4. ^ a b c d e DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 769
5. ^ a b c Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. pantof
6. ^ a b c 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. pantof
7. ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 929
8. ^ a b 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, 214
9. ^ a b Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 814
10. ^ a b Capidan, Theodor (1935), Meglenoromânii III: Dicționar meglenoromân, București: Academia Română, p. 214
11. ^ Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 680
12. ^ a b c Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
13. ^ a b Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
14. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
15. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 459
16. ^ a b c Dimitrescu, Florica (1997), Dicționar de cuvinte recente, 2nd ed., București: Logos (with the 3rd ed., 2013, in CLRE), p. s.v. pantof
17. ^ Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 2, 239
18. ^ a b Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. pantof