pitic

Forms

pitic m (plural pitici, feminine equivalent pitică)^[1]

Etymology

Its origin is disputed.^[2][1] According to MDA2 it is borrowed from Old Church Slavonic питикъ (pitikŭ, “monkey”), and NODEX and DLR compare that word.^[3][4][5] Scriban and Șăineanu explain it the same way, the Slavonic word being from Ancient Greek πίθηκος (píthēkos, “monkey”), so that the word would first have meant a man the size of a monkey.^[6][7] Ciorănescu notes that this derivation, through Slavonic from Greek, after Miklosich and Cihac, is the usual one.^[2]

Ciorănescu calls the origin doubtful: he thinks the word probably comes from piti (“to hide”), the first sense being “made small, made invisible”, and finds the resemblance to the Greek word accidental.^[2] Tiktin and DLR also connect it with that verb, next to the Slavonic and Greek words.^[8][5] Wiktionary calls the origin unknown and compares Sardinian pitticcu (“small”).^[1] Ungureanu compares the Sardinian word as well.^[9] Cihac had grouped it with many words for small things in the neighbouring languages, from Albanian to Sardinian.^[10]

The Greek word is old, used from Archilochus on, and Beekes thinks it is a loan, perhaps from Pre-Greek.^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is a personal name: Toader Pitic, in a Moldavian document of 1414.^[8] As a common noun it appears in Dosoftei's lives of the saints (1682–1686): „sosim în țara piticilor” “we came to the land of the dwarfs”.^[5][3]

Semantic evolution

The word first named a people of tiny men, as in the Alexandria of 1784: „Acei oameni să cheamă pitici” “those men are called dwarfs”.^[5] From there it came to mean any very short person, and in fairy tales a small, lively and clever being.^[12][3] In the feudal age a pitic could also be a dwarf kept at a ruler's court to amuse it.^[3] A figurative sense is “a person of no worth”: Grigore Alexandrescu speaks of „neînsemnați pitici” “insignificant dwarfs”.^[13][3]

As an adjective it describes short people, dwarf breeds of plants and animals, and low or small objects: măr pitic “dwarf apple tree”, „case lungi, pitici” “long low houses”.^[8][12] In Moldavia a pitic, usually in the variant chitic, is a small fish or fry; hence a tăcea chitic “to keep quiet as a fish”.^[5][8][2] Astronomy uses the feminine for stars: pitică albă “white dwarf”, pitică roșie “red dwarf”.^[12] Railway workers call the low shunting signal a pitic.^[14]

Timeline

• 1414 – the personal name Toader Pitic in a Moldavian document.^[8]
• 1682–1686 – piticilor “of the dwarfs” in Dosoftei's lives of the saints.^[5][3]
• 1705 – piticei “small fish” in Cantemir's Istoria ieroglifică.^[8]
• 1784 – pitici, a people of dwarfs, in the Alexandria.^[5]
• 1825 – Piticu “dwarf, pygmy” in the Lexicon de la Buda.^[15]

Meanings

Noun

1. A dwarf: a person much shorter than average; generally a very short person.^[12][3]
2. (in fairy tales) A small, lively and clever creature.^[12][3]
3. (figurative) A person without worth or merit.^[12]
4. A pigmeu, a member of the short peoples of Central Africa.^[12][3]
5. (astronomy, feminine) A dwarf star: pitică albă “white dwarf”, pitică roșie “red dwarf”.^[12]
6. (regional) A small fish, fry; also chitic.^[2][3]

Adjective

1. Very short or small; of plants and animals, of a dwarf breed: trandafiri pitici “dwarf roses”.^[12][13]
2. Of objects, small or low.^[12][8]

Word family

• pitică
• piticesc
• pitici
• chitic
• piticos
• piticuț

Related words

• piti
• pitula

Usage notes

A tăcea chitic or a tăcea ca chiticul means “to say not a word”.^[5] A separate adjective pitic “Pythian” is borrowed from French pythique and is used in jocuri pitice “the Pythian Games” held at Delphi in honour of Apollo.^{[16][17][18][19]}

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. pitic
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, 396
4. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. pitic
6. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună
7. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc
8. ^ a b c d e f g Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. pitic
9. ^ Ungureanu, Dan (2024), Istoria limbii române, Chișinău: Cartier
10. ^ Cihac, A. de (1879), Dictionnaire d'étymologie daco-romane II: Éléments slaves, magyars, turcs, grecs-moderne et albanais, Frankfurt am Main, p. 687
11. ^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill
12. ^ a b c d e f g h i j DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 824
13. ^ a b Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne
14. ^ Dimitrescu, Florica (1997), Dicționar de cuvinte recente, 2nd ed., București: Logos (with the 3rd ed., 2013, in CLRE)
15. ^ Lesicon românescu-latinescu-ungurescu-nemțescu quare de mai mulți autori, în cursul a trideci și mai multor ani s-au lucrat (1825), Buda: Typographia Universității (the Lexicon of Buda, ed. Petru Maior et al.)
16. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan” (1998), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române, 2nd ed., București: Univers Enciclopedic, p. 799
17. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România
18. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual
19. ^ Costăchescu, Adriana; Dincă, Daniela; Dragoste, Ramona; Popescu, Mihaela; Scurtu, Gabriela (2009–2010), Dicționar de împrumuturi lexicale din limba franceză (DILF), 2 vols., Craiova: Universitaria