sălta

Forms

sălta (third-person singular present saltă, past participle săltat, third-person subjunctive salte) 1st conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin saltō (“to dance; to jump”).^{[2][3][4][5][6][1]} Ciorănescu follows Pușcariu and the REW in this.^[2] The Latin verb is a frequentative formed on saliō (“to jump”).^[1][7] In Classical Latin it meant “to dance”, and Late Latin gave it the sense “to jump”.^[8][9]

The verb survives in Aromanian saltu (“to jump”).^[10][1] Its Romance cognates are Italian saltare, Occitan sautar, French sauter, and Catalan saltar, Spanish saltar and Portuguese saltar.^[2][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is the Psaltirea Voronețeană of the mid-16th century, at Psalm 97:8.^[4] MDA2 dates the word only from the New Testament of 1648.^[3] In the Bible of 1688 the mountains “leap” like rams: săltară, Psalm 113:4.^[12][4]

Semantic evolution

The first senses are bodily: to leap or hop, as a person or an animal does, and rarely to dance.^[3][5][6] From an early date the heart could leap for joy, a-i sălta inima de bucurie.^[3][6][13]

The transitive senses are “to lift a little, to hoist” and “to make a child bounce on one's arms”, both illustrated in Tiktin's quotations from modern writers.^[4] Figuratively the verb came to mean to rise in the world, to improve one's lot, and of children and plants, to shoot up.^[6][2] In slang it means “to steal”, “to take a bribe” and “to arrest”.^[14]

Romanian formed salt “leap” from it, a deverbal noun that Ciorănescu notes is not a popular word, and the adjectives săltăreț and săltător.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1551–1558 – the Psaltirea Voronețeană, Psalm 97:8, the first record.^[4]
• 1648 – the New Testament of Bălgrad.^[3]
• 1688 – săltară, săltat and săltând in the Bucharest Bible.^[12]

Meanings

Verb

1. To leap or hop, to make a jump or a series of jumps; also to rise up from the ground.^[6][15][1]
2. In a-i sălta (cuiva) inima de bucurie, to be overjoyed: I-a săltat inima când a primit vestea.^[6][3]
3. Of things, to move up and down again and again under an outside force; of water and waves, to churn.^[6]
4. To move along in jumps; of people, to walk briskly;^[6][3] (rare) to dance.^[6][3]
5. To jump over something; to spring out or appear suddenly; to rise into the air.^[6]
6. (transitive) To lift a little, to raise slightly;^[6][15] (figurative) to help someone up, to improve one's own or someone's position.^[6][15]
7. (reflexive, figurative) Of children and plants, to grow taller.^[6]
8. (slang) To steal; to take a bribe; to arrest.^[14]

Word family

• salt
• săltăreț
• săltător
• săltătură

Related words

• sări
• Aromanian saltu

References

1. ^ a b c d e 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. sălta
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 770
4. ^ a b c d e Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. săltá
5. ^ a b Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. sălta
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 979
7. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier, p. s.v. saltare
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. saltō
9. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. sauter
10. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 914
11. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 7551
12. ^ a b Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Ps 113:4
13. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 1, 561
14. ^ a b Volceanov, George (2007), Dicționar de argou al limbii române, București: Niculescu, p. s.v. sălta
15. ^ a b c Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. sălta