plăpând

Forms

plăpând m or n (feminine singular plăpândă, masculine plural plăpânzi, feminine/neuter plural plăpânde)^[1] Conachi has the variant poplând: „Au doar poplând mielușorul … ar fi așteptat în pace sângeroasa sa jertfire?” “would the tender lamb have awaited its bloody sacrifice in peace?”.^[2][3] Other old forms are plăpănd and pălpând.^[4]

Etymology

DEX and Wiktionary give inherited from Vulgar Latin *palpabundus, from palpō (“to stroke, caress”), an etymology that Ciorănescu traces to Cihac, Candrea, Pușcariu and the REW.^[5][1][6][7] Candrea and Densusianu explain the form, for the expected ⟨*plăpăund⟩, by the influence of blând and flămând.^[7] Tiktin rejects ⟨*palpabundus⟩, because words like tăun and păun show what it would have given, and proposes the gerundive palpandus “to be stroked”;^[8][9][10] Scriban and Șăineanu compare the same form, and Graur lists it under the Latin verb.^{[3][8][9][10]}

Ciorănescu finds both Latin forms hard to accept on phonetic and formal grounds.^[6] He starts from an expressive root ⟨plăp-⟩, a metathesis of the ⟨pâlp-⟩ of pâlpâi, meaning a weak beating or fluttering, and thinks the ending may follow the two adjectives.^[6] He adds that the word appears only in writers of the second half of the 19th century and may be an artificial creation of that time.^[6] MDA2 and the DLR call its origin unknown.^[4][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is of 1829.^[3] MDA2 and the DLR start with a text of 1846 about a frail, tiny creature in which someone's whole existence was concentrated.^[4][2]

Semantic evolution

The word first described a frail body or creature, lacking strength and vitality, and hence anything of fine, delicate build.^[2][4] Tiktin quotes a text saying that man has the most tender skin of all living things, and Eminescu's “garland of tender flowers”.^[3] Of plants it means stunted, lacking sap, delicate; figuratively, of people, easily moved, and of the voice, faint or tender.^[4][5]

Several senses are rare or regional: plăpând de zile “young”, “soft” of people, and, according to Scriban and MDA2, “fussy about food”.^[4][8]

Timeline

• 1829 – Tiktin's first record.^[3]
• 1846 – „acestei creature plăpânde” “this frail creature”, MDA2's first record.^[4][2]
• 19th century – Conachi's poplând;^[1] Pann, Alecsandri, Ispirescu and Eminescu use the word.^[2][3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of living beings: lacking strength or vitality, frail, weak; by extension fragile, delicate, fine.^[5][4][1]
2. Of plants: stunted, lacking sap; tender, delicate.^[5][4]
3. (figurative) Easily moved, sensitive.^[5][4]
4. Of the voice: faint; by extension tender.^[4]

Related words

• pâlpâi

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. plăpând
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. plăpând
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 412
5. ^ a b c d e DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 830
6. ^ 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. plăpînd
7. ^ a b Candrea, I.-A.; Densusianu, Ov. (1907–1914), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române: elementele latine (A–Putea), București, p. s.v. plăpînd
8. ^ a b c Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 995
9. ^ a b Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 486
10. ^ a b Graur, Alexandru (1980), Cuvinte înrudite, București: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică, p. 159