paraulă

Forms

paraulă f (plural paraule)^[1]

Etymology

Its origin is unknown to DLR and MDA2.^[2][3] Wiktionary takes it as probably inherited from Latin parabola (“comparison; word”), which is from Ancient Greek παραβολή (parabolḗ), and compares Italian parola and Albanian përrallë (“tale”).^[1] The Latin word replaced verbum “word” in the other Romance languages, but not in Romanian.^[4] The Albanian noun comes from the same Latin word.^[5] Wiktionary counts parabolă, parolă and palavră as its doublets.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the eighth volume of the journal Ion Creangă of Bârlad, with the sense “bad habit”;^[3][2] DLR also has it from a correspondent in Turnu Măgurele.^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

The word is regional, from Muntenia and Oltenia, where it means a bad habit.^[2][6] Pamfile recorded a form pârăură “thought, idea”: mi-a venit o pârăură “a thought came to me”.^[2] In Mățău near Câmpulung the phrase a sta la paraulă cu cineva means to consider oneself someone's equal.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (regional) A bad habit.^[2][3][1]
2. (regional, in the form pârăură) A thought, an idea.^[2][3]

Related words

• parabolă
• parolă
• Albanian përrallë

Usage notes

A sta la paraulă cu cineva is “to put oneself on a level with someone”.^[2][3] Wiktionary adds a sense “story, fairy tale”, which DLR does not record.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. paraulă
3. ^ a b c d e f Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 267
4. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 6223
5. ^ Çabej, Eqrem (2002), Studime etimologjike në fushë të shqipes VI (N–Rr), Tiranë, p. 214
6. ^ Bulgăr, Gheorghe; Constantinescu-Dobridor, Gheorghe (2002), Dicționar de arhaisme și regionalisme, 2 vols., București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. paraulă