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picătură

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Etymology and origin of the Romanian word picătură

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 1500–1520 Psaltirea Hurmuzaki More words from the 15th century
Ultimate origin
Romanian pic,-ătură
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Romanian pic
Romanian pica
Romanian picătură

Forms

picătură f (plural picături)[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Romanian pica + -ătură, from the verb pica “to drip, to fall”, as DLR, DEX and MDA2 give it.[2][3][4][1][5] Ciorănescu compares the formation of sburătură from sbura, while Scriban starts from the participle picat.[6][7] The verb comes from pic, which Ciorănescu takes for an expressive creation imitating the sound of a falling drop, compared with the Romance root ⟨picc-⟩ and with Albanian pikë (“drop”).[6] MDA2 calls it onomatopoeic and also compares the Albanian word.[8] Ciorănescu sets the verb beside Aromanian k'icu, Megleno-Romanian pic and pikoń.[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki of the early 16th century, at Psalm 71:6: „picătura ce pică pre pământ” “the drop that falls on the earth”.[4][2][9] The later psalters of the century have the same verse, and Coresi's psalter of 1570 adds picăturile “the drops” at Psalm 64:11.[9][10][5]

Semantic evolution

Old texts use the word for a drop of rain or of any liquid, and proverbs soon gathered round it: „Picătura de va pica de pururea pre piatră, încă o pătrunde” “a drop that falls on a stone for ever pierces it” in Moxa, and „Picăturile ploii piatra găurește” “raindrops bore through stone” in Cantemir's Istoria ieroglifică.[2] The Slavonic–Romanian lexicons of the 17th century gloss Old Church Slavonic каплѧ (kaplja, “drop”) with it.[11] Legal texts used it for the water dripping from eaves or a fence, as a deed of 1759 does, and regionally it still names the place under the eaves where water drips.[2][5][4]

From “drop” came “a tiny quantity” of anything.[2] From the 19th century there is also the plural picături “drops”, a medicine taken by the drop, which Negruzzi already has.[2][3] The adverbial phrases printre picături “now and then, in spare moments” and picătură cu picătură “little by little” and the simile ca două picături de apă “as like as two drops of water” belong to the modern language.[2][3] Technical language uses it for a particle of molten metal in welding or casting.[2][4] Older and regional senses include a spot or stain, a full stop as a punctuation mark, and a little drink of brandy.[2][4][5]

Timeline

  • c. 1500-1520 – picătura in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki, Psalm 71:6, the first record.[4][9]
  • 1570 – picăturile in Coresi's psalter, Psalm 64:11.[10]
  • c. 1573-1578 – picătura in the Psaltirea Scheiană.[5][12]
  • c. 1660 – the first of the Slavonic–Romanian lexicons to gloss the Slavonic word for “drop” with it.[11]
  • 1688 – „ca o picătură ce pică pre pământ” in the Bucharest Bible.[13][5]
  • 1705 – picăturile ploii in Cantemir's Istoria ieroglifică.[2]
  • 1759 – the drip from a fence onto a neighbour's land, in a deed in the Uricariul.[2]
  • 1801 – picátura in Klein's dictionary, glossed with Latin gutta, stilla.[14]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A drop: a small round particle of liquid that comes off a mass of liquid or forms by condensation of a vapour, a strop, a pic: o picătură de rouă “a drop of dew”.[3][4]
  2. A small amount of a liquid, and generally a tiny quantity of anything, a crumb.[3][4]
  3. (in the plural) A liquid medicine given in drops.[3][15]
  4. (technology) A particle of molten metal that comes off the electrode in welding.[4][2]
  5. (regional) The place under the eaves where rainwater drips.[4][16]

Usage notes

The phrases are many: printre picături “now and then, in spare moments”, picătură cu picătură “little by little”, a semăna ca două picături de apă “to be as like as two peas” and până la ultima picătură de sânge “to the last breath”.[3][4] An old and regional plural picăture occurs, as in Heliade's „din picăture-n ploaie” “from drops into rain”.[4][2]

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. picătură
  3. ^ a b c d e f g DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 813
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 367
  5. ^ a b c d e f Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. picătúră
  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. pic
  7. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 975
  8. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 366
  9. ^ a b c 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 71:6
  10. ^ a b 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 64:11
  11. ^ a b 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. picătură
  12. ^ Candrea, I.-A. (1916), Psaltirea Scheiană comparată cu celelalte psaltiri din sec. XVI și XVII traduse din slavonește, vol. II: Glosarele, București: Socec, p. 354
  13. ^ Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Ps 71:6
  14. ^ 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. 417
  15. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. picătură
  16. ^ Constantinescu, Grigore; Constantinescu, Eugenia (2014), Glosar. Arealul etnocultural Argeș-Muscel, p. 81
Cite this entry

“Picătură.” Etymologically, 12 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/ro/pic%C4%83tur%C4%83. Accessed 12 Nov. 2026.

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