pradă

Forms

pradă f (plural prăzi)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin praeda (“booty, plunder”).^{[2][3][4][5][1][6]} The Latin word comes from an older form with prae- and the root of prehendō (“to seize”).^[7][1] Wiktionary traces it to Proto-Indo-European *gʰed-.^[1]

It survives in Aromanian pradã.^[2][8][9] The Romance cognates include Italian preda, French proie, Occitan preza, Catalan prea and Portuguese prea.^[2][10]

The verb prăda may continue praedō (“to plunder”) directly, as Pușcariu, Candrea–Densusianu and the REW hold.^[2][11] Ciorănescu also cites Latin sources for prădăciune and prădător, but thinks they are more probably Romanian formations.^[2] Pușcariu and Scriban derive Ukrainian and Hungarian words for “booty” from the Romanian.^[6][12]

Earliest recorded meaning

The articled form prada occurs in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki (c. 1500–1520), at Psalms 67:19 and 125:1.^[13] MDA2 and Tiktin date the first record to the Psaltirea Scheiană (c. 1573–1578).^[3][5] Old texts also use it for “captivity” and for “prisoners of war”.^[3][5]

Semantic evolution

The noun means both the act of plundering and what is taken.^[4] Grigore Ureche's chronicle uses it for a raid: „După această pradă... iarăși au întrat tătarii în Țara de Jos” “after this raid the Tatars came again into Lower Moldavia”.^[5] The old phrase a lua în pradă meant “to take prisoner”.^[5] A face pradă meant “to plunder”.^[4] The sense “prey of an animal” gave pasăre de pradă “bird of prey”.^[4][5]

In modern literary use a person is pradă to a feeling, “in its grip”: se lăsă pradă unei visări “he gave himself up to a reverie”.^[5] Budai-Deleanu uses the word for wasteful spending, a sense DEX labels regional.^[5][4] In Maramureș it also means “devastation”.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 1500-1520 – prada in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki.^[13]
• c. 1573-1578 – in the Psaltirea Scheiană, the first record in MDA2 and Tiktin.^[3][5]
• 1688 – “my sheep became a prey” in the Bucharest Bible (Ezekiel 34:8).^[5]
• c. 1800-1812 – “waste” in Budai-Deleanu's Țiganiada.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. plunder, pillage, devastation.^[4]
2. booty, loot: the goods (formerly also people) taken by plunderers, especially in war.^[4][1]
3. A person seized or carried off;^[4][14] pradă cuiva or prada cuiva: at someone's mercy, in the grip of a feeling.^[4][14]
4. prey: an animal that serves as food for predators; by extension, game: Lupul și-a dus prada în pădure.^[4][1]
5. (regional) Waste, needless spending.^[4]

Word family

• prăda
• prădalnic
• prădător

Related words

• prădăciune
• Aromanian pradã
• Latin praeda

Usage notes

The plural is prăzi; old texts also have prade.^[3][12]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f 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. pradă
3. ^ a b c d e Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 497
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 859
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. pradă
6. ^ a b Pușcariu, Sextil (1905), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der rumänischen Sprache I: Lateinisches Element, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 120
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. praeda
8. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 873
9. ^ Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net), p. 847
10. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 6714
11. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 6715
12. ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1030
13. ^ a b Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Ungureanu, Mădălina; Moruz, Alexandru et al., roPsalt: Re-evaluating the Sixteenth Century Romanian Psalters (aligned corpus), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. Ps 125:1
14. ^ a b Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. pradă