pica

pica¹ fall, drip

Etymology tree of pica¹

inherited borrowed derived

Romanian pic

Romanian pica

Pronunciation

• /piˈka/^[1]

Forms

pica (third-person singular present pică, past participle picat) 1st conjugation^[1]

Etymology

The verb for “to fall, to drip” is from Romanian pic (“a drop”), the onomatopoeia for a falling drop and the noun made from it, first said of drops of liquid.^[2][3][4][1] Ciorănescu calls the noun an expressive creation and compares the Romance root Vulgar Latin *picc-;^[4] Wiktionary takes it from picca.^[1] Șăineanu thought the verb probably onomatopoeic.^[5]

Ciorănescu compares Aromanian chicu and Megleno-Romanian pic south of the Danube.^[4][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is the form picară “dropped” in Psalm 67:9 of the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki, of the early 16th century.^[7][2] The Psaltirea Scheiană has it too, where Candrea's glossary gives Latin stillare “to drip”.^[8][9] The old sense was “to drip, to fall in drops”.^[8][2]

Semantic evolution

“To drip” is the sense of the old texts and of proverbs such as „Dacă nu curge, tot pică” “if it doesn't pour, it still drips” and Pann's „Picând, picând baltă se face” “drop by drop a pond is made”.^[8] From falling drops the verb came to mean falling in general, a use Șăineanu marked as Moldavian.^[5][3] Further senses grew from “fall”: to collapse, to die in battle, to fail an exam, to come unexpectedly, to fall into someone's hands and to fall on a date.^[3][1] Expressions include a pica din cer “to turn up out of the blue”, a pica de somn “to be dropping with sleep”, frumos de pică “stunningly beautiful” and să-l pici cu ceară “not for anything”.^[3]

The derivative picătură “drop” was formed from the verb.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 1500–1520 – picară in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki, the first record.^[7][2]
• 16th century – pică in the Psaltirea Scheiană.^[8][9]
• 1660 – pică and picară in a Slavonic–Romanian lexicon.^[10]
• 1688 – several forms in the Bucharest Bible.^[11]
• 1929 – Șăineanu records the Moldavian sense “to fall”.^[5]

Meanings

Verb

1. (old and popular) to fall from a height; of people, to fall down, to collapse; of buildings, to fall in.^[3][2]
2. (figurative, familiar) to fail an exam;^[3][1] (transitive) to fail a candidate: A picat la bacalaureat.^[3][1]
3. (old and popular) to drip, to fall in drops;^[3][2] (impersonal) to drizzle;^[3][2] (transitive) to let fall in drops; to stain.^[3][2]
4. (familiar) to come by something by chance.^[3]
5. (familiar) to turn up unexpectedly.^[3]
6. (popular) to fall on a certain date: Anul acesta Paștele pică în aprilie.^[3]
7. (popular, transitive) to hit someone with something thrown.^[3]

Word family

• picătură
• picat

pica² dive (of aircraft)

Etymology tree of pica²

inherited borrowed derived

French piquer

English pique

Italian picchiare

Romanian pica

Forms

pica (third-person singular present pichează, past participle picat) 1st conjugation^[1]

Etymology

The aviation verb is borrowed from French piquer.^{[3][2][12][13][1]} The French verb comes from Vulgar Latin *pikkare “to strike with a point”, built on an expressive root; the DHLF notes that the Latin verb lived on in every Romance language except Romanian.^[14]

Earliest recorded meaning

MDA2's first record is the Academy's dictionary of the literary language, in the sense “to descend in a dive”, said of aircraft.^[2][15]

Semantic evolution

The verb has kept its one technical sense.^[3][12] It conjugates with -ez (pichează), which sets it apart from pica “to fall” (pică); the older dictionaries give both pic and pichez.^[3][15][16]

Timeline

• 1955–1957 – the Academy's dictionary of the literary language, the first record.^[2][15]

Meanings

Verb

1. (rare; of aircraft) to dive, to descend steeply in a picaj.^[3][12]