spaț

Forms

spaț n (plural spațuri)^[1] Variants are spas, rarely spațiu, and regionally spațu, spaciu, spanț, spat and ispas; the plural is spațuri, regionally spațe.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin spatium (“space, interval, course”).^[4][2][3][1] Tiktin calls the Latin source probable.^[5] The REW lists the Transylvanian word, “the space between the weft and the batten of a loom”, among the popular descendants of the Latin noun, beside Italian spazzo (“floor”), an old Italian form.^[6] The neologism spațiu is a later loan of the same Latin word, with a more general sense.^[1] The origin of the Latin noun itself is uncertain; de Vaan considers a link with a root meaning “to prosper, extend” possible but unproven.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to 1843, in a work by Fuss, which also gives the plant name spasul dracului “male fern”.^[5] MDA2's first record is Damé's work on folk terminology, in the weaving sense.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The word belongs to hand-weaving: the stretch between the front roller of the loom and the reed, and the part of the warp or cloth in that stretch, woven but not yet wound on the roller.^[2][5][4] As weaving goes on the stretch grows shorter, and the weaver lets out a new length of warp.^[3] Compounds with spasul name ferns and the polypody: spasul dracului and spasul drumului.^[2][3] The word is regional.^[5][1]

Timeline

• 1843 – first record, with the plant name spasul dracului.^[5]
• 1898 – the weaving sense in Damé's folk terminology.^[2][3]
• 1929 – Șăineanu refers it to the variant spas, as a Transylvanian word.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. (weaving, regional) The space between the front roller and the reed of a loom; the part of the warp or fabric in that space, not yet wound on the roller.^[4][2][1]
2. (regional, in compounds) spasul dracului or spasul drumului, names of ferns and of the polypody.^[2][3]

Related words

• spațiu
• spată
• Latin spatium

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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, 943
3. ^ 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. spaț 1
4. ^ a b c DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1037
5. ^ 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. spaț
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 8129
7. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
8. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 1, 607