piersică

Forms

piersică f (plural piersici)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin persica, the plural (later feminine) of persicum (“peach”), short for a phrase meaning “Persian apples”; the adjective is Persicus (“Persian”).^{[2][3][4][1][5]} Ciorănescu instead takes the word for the fruit as formed in Romanian on piersic “peach tree”, which he derives from the same Latin adjective, used of the tree.^[6]

The word has a match in Aromanian chearsicã, and Ciorănescu compares Albanian pjeshkë.^[7][1][6] The Romance cognates include Italian pesca, Occitan persega and French pêche, whose forms are not all regular.^[5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is a place name, Piiarseca, of about 1595.^[4] As a common noun MDA2 first finds it in the Romanian–Latin glossary of the Anonymus Caransebesiensis (c. 1650–1700).^[2]

Semantic evolution

The word has kept the sense “peach”.^[3] In Transylvania and Maramureș piersică (also piersică de vară) names the apricot, and a woven pattern is called în sâmburele piersicii “in the peach stone”.^[2] Older and regional forms are piarsecă and piersegă, and the plural piersice is popular.^[2][4] Derivatives are piersicei, a name of the garden balsam, and piersiciu “peach-coloured”.^[5][6] The Ukrainian word for the peach was taken from Romanian, according to Candrea, and Ciorănescu thinks the Russian one probably was too.^[6][5]

Timeline

• c. 1595 – the place name Piiarseca, the first record.^[4]
• c. 1650–1700 – piersică in the glossary of the Anonymus Caransebesiensis.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. peach: the round, fleshy, juicy fruit of the peach tree (piersic), with a downy yellowish-red skin and a hard stone.^[3][1]
2. (regional, Transylvania and Maramureș) Apricot.^[2]

Word family

• piersiciu

Related words

• piersic
• Aromanian chearsicã

Usage notes

A separate verb piersica “to beat hard” is derived by Ciorănescu from Latin persecare “to destroy”; he finds a derivation from piersică, proposed by Tiktin and Spitzer, improbable.^[8]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 376
3. ^ a b c DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 816
4. ^ a b c d Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. piersică
5. ^ a b c d Candrea, I.-A.; Densusianu, Ov. (1907–1914), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române: elementele latine (A–Putea), București
6. ^ a b c d e 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
7. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 596
8. ^ 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. piersica