piele

Forms

piele f (plural piei)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin pellem (“skin, hide”), the accusative of the Latin noun, which lives on in nearly every Romance language.^{[2][3][4][5][1]} The Latin word goes back to Proto-Indo-European *pel- (“to cover, wrap; skin, hide”).^[1] De Vaan reconstructs *pel-ni- (“skin, hide”) and notes that no independent forms of the root are attested.^[6]

The word survives south of the Danube: Aromanian chiale and Megleno-Romanian chialie.^[2][4] Its Romance cognates include Italian pelle, French peau, Occitan pel, Catalan pell, Spanish piel and Dalmatian pial.^[2][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

MDA2 dates the first record to the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki (c. 1500–1520).^[3] Tiktin's first record is Psalm 103:2 in the Psaltirea Scheiană.^[7]

Semantic evolution

The word covers both the skin of a living body and the hide or fur taken from an animal: piei de bou, de samur “ox hides, sable furs”.^[7] A law book of 1646 has „le poartă cu pieile goale pre măgari” “they parade them stark naked on donkeys”, and a manuscript of 1654 has the wolf in sheep's skin, lupul ... de pielea oii.^[7] Neculce writes that people were plundered until they were left „cu pieile” “with only their skins”.^[7]

Old anatomical phrases named membranes: pielea oului for the chorion and pielea oaselor for the periosteum.^[3] Ciorănescu derives pielcea “lambskin” with the suffix -cea, while Candrea–Densusianu and Iordan took it from Latin *pellicella.^[2] Șăineanu explains a da pielea popii “to die” by the old custom of giving the priest the head and hide of slaughtered sheep.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 1500–1520 – first record, in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki.^[3]
• 16th century – piele in the Psaltirea Scheiană.^[7]
• 1646 – cu pieile goale “stark naked” in a law book.^[7]
• 1654 – the wolf in sheep's skin in a manuscript.^[7]
• 1688 – piei “skins” in the Bucharest Bible.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. skin: the tissue that covers the body of vertebrates and most invertebrates; in particular human skin.^[10][3]
2. (figurative) A being; one's own life: Și-a riscat pielea pentru noi. “He risked his skin for us.”^[10]
3. The hide flayed from an animal, raw or tanned; fur.^[10][7]
4. Leather.^[1][2]

Word family

• pielar
• pielărie
• pielcea
• pieliță
• pielos
• împielița
• împielițat

Related words

• Aromanian chiale
• Latin pellis

Usage notes

Many idioms use the word: în pielea goală “stark naked”, a i se face pielea de găină “to get goose bumps”, a nu-și mai încăpea în piele “to be beside oneself with joy or conceit” and a fi în pielea cuiva “to be in someone's shoes”.^[10] The plural is piei, the genitive pielii or pieii;^[10][2] Moldavian speech has the variant chele.^[10][2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g 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. piele
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, 372
4. ^ a b Pușcariu, Sextil (1905), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der rumänischen Sprache I: Lateinisches Element, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 115
5. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 6377
6. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
7. ^ a b c d e f g h Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. piele
8. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 480
9. ^ Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Ieșirea 25:5
10. ^ a b c d e f DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 815