pescar

Forms

pescar m (plural pescari)^[1] The old form is păscar: Coresi's homilies (1581) say of two brothers casting a net into the sea „era amu păscari” “for they were fishermen”.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin piscārius (“of fish; fishmonger”), formed on piscis (“fish”).^[2][3][4][1] The old form păscar is the regular outcome;^[5][2] ⟨pe-⟩ is due to the influence of pește, as in pescui.^[5][2] Tiktin suggests that Romanian kept this word, rather than Latin piscātor, under the influence of Old Church Slavonic рꙑбарь (rybarĭ);^[5] Ciorănescu finds that unhelpful.^[5][6]

Ciorănescu prefers a Romanian formation, from a form of the noun for “fish” with the agent suffix -ar, though he notes that Pușcariu, Candrea and Densusianu, and the REW take it from the Latin word.^[6] Aromanian has piscar.^[7][1] The REW compares Old French peschier, and Ciorănescu Portuguese peixeiro.^[8][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is a Gospel text of 1551–1553 (Matthew 4:18).^[5] MDA2 dates it to Coresi's book of homilies of 1581, which has păscari.^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

From the fisherman the word spread to the fish seller and, in modern use, the angler.^[4][3] It also names waterside birds that live on fish: the gulls and the kingfisher, with the diminutives pescăruș and pescărel.^[4][5] Regionally the form păscar names the swift.^[2] The feminine pescăreasă means a fisherman's wife or a fishwife.^[5]

Timeline

• 1551-1553 – the first record, in a Gospel text (Matthew 4:18).^[5]
• 1581 – păscari in Coresi's homilies.^[3][2]
• 1660 – păscar glossing Slavonic рыбаръ in a Slavonic–Romanian lexicon.^[9]
• 1688 – păscari in the Bucharest Bible (Matthew 4:18).^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A fisherman: someone who fishes for a living and sometimes preserves the catch; an angler; by extension, a fish seller.^[4][1]
2. A name for several waterside birds that feed on fish, such as the gull (Larus) and the kingfisher (Alcedo).^[4]

Word family

• pescărel
• pescăraș
• pescăruș
• pescăresc
• pescărește
• pescărie
• pescărime

Related words

• pește
• pescui
• Aromanian piscar
• Latin piscis

Usage notes

The plural is pescari.^[1] The bird names are more often the diminutives pescăruș “gull” and pescărel.^[4][5]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. pescar
3. ^ a b c d e Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 357
4. ^ a b c d e f DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 808
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. pescár
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. pescar
7. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 849
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 6527
9. ^ Ungureanu, Mădălina; Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Moruz, Alexandru (eds.), eRomLex: The First Romanian Bilingual Dictionaries (17th century), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. s.v. păscar