tată

Forms

tată m (plural tați)^[1] An old and popular variant is tătâne: „Tătâne-său era trecut cu vrâsta bătrânețelor” “His father was well on in years” (Enache Kogălniceanu).^[2][3] The articled form is tata or tatăl, the genitive–dative tatei, tatii or tatălui.^[3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin tata (“dad”), a word of children's speech;^[5][6][3][1] Wiktionary traces it to Proto-Indo-European *tatás.^[5][6][3][1]

It survives in all four branches: Aromanian tatã, Megleno-Romanian tată and Istro-Romanian tǫtę.^[5][7][8][9] The same word is Dalmatian tuota, southern Italian tata, Spanish tata and Albanian tatë, and Old French taie means “grandmother”.^[5][6][1] The REW takes only the southern and eastern forms straight from Latin and the others as new nursery formations.^[10]

Miklosich derived the Romanian word from Slavonic (compare Serbo-Croatian tata, Polish tata and Hungarian tata); Ciorănescu finds this improbable and explains the likeness by a common expressive source, as in Ancient Greek τάτα (táta).^[5] Wiktionary allows that South Slavic may have reinforced it.^[1]

The old plural ⟨tătâni⟩ and the variant ⟨tătâne⟩ are usually traced to the Latin oblique stem ⟨tatan-⟩ (genitive ⟨tatanis⟩).^[5][11] Ciorănescu doubts this and prefers a paragogic ⟨-ne⟩, supported by pairs such as frate / ⟨frățâni⟩.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Hurmuzaki Psalter of the early 16th century, where tatăl “the father” occurs.^[3][12] The Codicele Voronețean has the old plural tătânri “fathers” (Acts 26:6).^[2]

Semantic evolution

Beside “father” the word is an affectionate form of address from a father to his child, from a husband to his wife, and also from an older man to a younger person.^[2][4] Tată mare is “grandfather”;^[6][4] Pușcariu notes that in one village tată-mare and tată-mic are the father's elder and younger brother.^[6][4] In Christian use Tatăl is God the Father, and Tatăl nostru is the Lord's Prayer.^[4][2]

The word has a double declension: tata and tatăl, tatei and tatălui.^[5] Ciorănescu explains the masculine forms by the need to avoid a feminine ending beside a masculine possessive, so that one says tatălui tău or tată-tău rather than tatei său.^[5]

Timeline

• early 16th century – tatăl in the Hurmuzaki Psalter.^[3][12]
• 16th century – the plural tătânri in the Codicele Voronețean.^[2]
• 1570 – tată in Coresi's psalter.^[13]
• 1688 – „Cinsteaște pre tată-tău și pre mumă-ta” “Honour thy father and thy mother” in the Bucharest Bible (Exodus 20:12).^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. father: a man who has children; also what his children call him.^[4][1]
2. (vocative) A form of address to a child or a younger person, marking affection.^[4]
3. In tată mare or tata-moșu: grandfather;^[4] tată vitreg “stepfather”.^[4]
4. The man regarded as the founder of a family or dynasty.^[4]
5. (Christianity) God the Father;^[4] Tatăl nostru “the Lord's Prayer”.^[4]
6. (figurative, colloquial) A creator or founder.^[4]

Word family

• tătânesc

Related words

• taică
• Aromanian tatã
• Latin tata

Usage notes

Expressions: din tată în fiu “from father to son”, bucățică ruptă tată-său “the spitting image of his father” and a ști ca pe Tatăl nostru “to know by heart”.^[4]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. tată
3. ^ a b c d e f Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 1161
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1105
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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. tată
6. ^ a b c d e Pușcariu, Sextil (1905), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der rumänischen Sprache I: Lateinisches Element, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 158
7. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1021
8. ^ Capidan, Theodor (1935), Meglenoromânii III: Dicționar meglenoromân, București: Academia Română, p. 291
9. ^ Byhan, Arthur (1899), Istrorumänisches Glossar, Sechster Jahresbericht des Instituts für rumänische Sprache zu Leipzig: 174–366, p. 362
10. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 8596
11. ^ Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. tată
12. ^ 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 26:16
13. ^ 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 102:13