pieptene

Forms

pieptene m (plural piepteni)^[1] Dosoftei's lives of the saints (1682–1686) has the plural cheapteni: „și-l drăpănară preste coaste cu cheapteni” “and they raked him over the ribs with combs”.^[2] MDA2 records the variants piaptăn, piapten, piaptin, piepten and pieptin, and a popular plural piepțeni.^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin pecten (“comb”), in its accusative form pectinem.^{[4][2][3][5][1]} The word survives in all four branches of Romanian: Aromanian cheaptini, Megleno-Romanian chiaptin and Istro-Romanian coptir.^[4][6][7] Its Romance cognates include Italian pettine, French peigne, Spanish peine and Portuguese pente.^[4][8]

The Latin noun is derived from pectō (“to comb”), and Wiktionary traces it to Proto-Indo-European *pḱtḗn, from the root *peḱ- (“to pluck”).^[1] The verb pieptăna “to comb” is a Romanian derivative of the noun, though Ciorănescu notes that it could also continue pectinō, as Pușcariu, Candrea–Densusianu and the REW take it.^[4][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to about 1660.^[2] A Slavonic–Romanian lexicon of 1664 has the diminutive pieptănel as the equivalent of Slavonic гребен “comb”.^[10] In the 1680s Dosoftei used the plural cheapteni of the combs with which a martyr's flesh was torn, and Miron Costin wrote „Prin pieptine tund părul” “they cut the hair through a comb”.^[2][11] MDA2 gives Dosoftei's lives of the saints (1682–1686) as its first record.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The core sense is the toilet comb for the hair, also worn by women to hold the hair up.^[12][3] From early on it also named the toothed board used to card wool, flax and hemp, a sense Tiktin illustrates with the pieptănuși of the household weaver, and later a part of the industrial carding machine.^[2][3][12] MDA2 records an old sense “currycomb” and the comb used as an instrument of torture.^[3]

Regional speech gave the word further uses: a bate din piepteni “to chatter one's teeth” from cold or fear, and in Muntenia a name for a New Year's fortune-telling custom of the young.^[3][2][13] The plant name pieptenele-Vinerei is regional too.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 1660 – the first record, according to Tiktin.^[2]
• 1664 – the diminutive pieptănel in a Slavonic–Romanian lexicon.^[10]
• 1682–1686 – the plural cheapteni in Dosoftei's lives of the saints.^[3][2]
• 1788 – Doauă tocuri de pieptine “two comb cases” in a document.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. A comb of bone, metal or plastic with teeth on one or both sides, used to tidy the hair, or worn by women as an ornament in the hair.^[12][14]
2. A toothed tool used in home crafts to card wool, flax or hemp; by extension, a part of the industrial carding machine.^[12][14]
3. Any tool of similar shape or use: pieptene de filetat, a toothed cutter for threading screws.^[12][14]
4. (dated) A currycomb for cattle.^[3]

Word family

• pieptăna
• pieptănătură
• pieptenel
• pieptănar

Related words

• Aromanian cheaptini
• Latin pecten

Usage notes

DEX 2009 lists the standard form under pieptăn, with pieptene as a variant, while Wiktionary and older dictionaries use pieptene as the headword.^[15][1][12]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. pieptene
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 375
4. ^ a b c d 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. pieptene
5. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 6328
6. ^ Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net), p. 283
7. ^ Capidan, Theodor (1935), Meglenoromânii III: Dicționar meglenoromân, București: Academia Română, p. 68
8. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier, p. s.v. pettine
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 6329
10. ^ 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. pieptănel
11. ^ a b Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. pieptene
12. ^ a b c d e f Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan” (1998), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române, 2nd ed., București: Univers Enciclopedic, p. 791
13. ^ Marin, Maria; Mărgărit, Iulia, Glosar dialectal. Muntenia, București: Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti”, p. 317
14. ^ a b c Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. pieptene
15. ^ DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 816