piersic

Forms

piersic m (plural piersici)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin persicus (“peach tree”), short for a Latin name meaning “Persian apple tree”, with mālus (“apple tree”).^{[2][3][4][5][6][1]} Gabinschi notes that Latin had the adjective from Greek, and that it is of Persian origin.^[7]

The older variants chiarsic and chiarsăc show initial /kj/, and Moldavian has persic.^[2] The word survives south of the Danube: Aromanian chearsic and Megleno-Romanian chiarsic.^[2][8][1] Its Romance cognates include Italian pesca, Occitan persega, French pêche and Spanish prisco, a kind of peach.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

MDA2 dates the first record to Dosoftei's Lives of the Saints (Iași, 1682–1686), which Tiktin dates 1683.^[4][3] There it is the wood of the tree: the relics of a saint were brought „în secrii de piiarsec” “in coffins of peach wood”.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The tree and its wood are the main senses; the fruit is piersică.^[2][4] Regionally the name passes to other trees: piersic sălbatic or piersic pitic is the dwarf almond, and in Transylvania and Oltenia piersic-de-vară is the apricot.^[4] Popular phrases use the tree as a place to hide behind: a da ceva după piersic “to hide something”, and a o lua pe după piersic “to beat about the bush, dodge the question”.^[4][5]

Tiktin records older piersec, Oltenian piarsăc and Banat părsăc.^[3] Ciorănescu, following Candrea, considers Ukrainian persyk a loan from Romanian, and probably Russian персик (persik) too; he rejects Sanzewitsch's view that the Romanian word came from Russian.^[2] Wiktionary derives the Russian word from Middle Low German.^[1]

Timeline

• 1682–1686 – piiarsec “peach wood” in Dosoftei's Lives of the Saints, the first record.^[4][3]
• 1893–1895 – piersic “peach tree” in Damé's dictionary.^[9]
• 1929 – Panțu's plant names list chersâc (Moldavia) and persic beside piersic.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. peach tree: a fruit tree of the rose family with pink or white flowers and large round fruits (Persica vulgaris).^[5][4][1]
2. The wood of the peach tree.^[4][3]
3. (regional) the dwarf almond (Amygdalus nana); in Transylvania and Oltenia, the apricot.^[4]

Word family

• piersică
• piersiciu

Related words

• Aromanian chearsic
• Latin persicus

Usage notes

The expression a o lua (or a o aduce, a umbla, a se da) pe după piersic means to say something in a roundabout way, to look for a loophole.^[5] Scriban records a separate verb piersica “to beat black and blue”, formed on piersică.^[11]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f 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. piersic
3. ^ 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. piersic
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 376
5. ^ a b c d DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 816
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 6429
7. ^ Gabinschi, Marcu (2001), Dicționar de dublete etimologice ale limbii române, 2nd ed., Chișinău: Litera, p. 140
8. ^ Capidan, Theodor (1935), Meglenoromânii III: Dicționar meglenoromân, București: Academia Română, p. 68
9. ^ Damé, Frédéric (1893–1895), Nouveau dictionnaire roumain-français, 4 vols., Bucarest: Imprimerie de l'État, p. 2
10. ^ Panțu, Zach. C. (1929), Plantele cunoscute de poporul român. Vocabular botanic cuprinzând numirile române, franceze, germane și științifice, 2nd ed., București: Editura Casei Școalelor, p. 218
11. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1, 978