vătui

vătui¹ to pad with wadding

Forms

vătui (third-person singular present vătuiește, past participle vătuit), 4th conjugation^[1]

Etymology

The word for padding is formed from Romanian vată (“cotton wool, wadding”) + -ui.^{[2][3][4][5][1]} vată is from German Watte.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Iordache Golescu's manuscript dictionary, the Condica limbii rumânești (c. 1832).^[3][4] Pontbriant glosses it in 1862 with French ouater “to wad”.^[6]

Semantic evolution

The verb first meant lining a garment with wadding, then quilting a blanket filled with wadding or wool, and by extension upholstering.^[3][7] Delavrancea used the reflexive figuratively of hearing that becomes muffled.^[8] In slang it means “to beat someone up” and “to sentence to prison”.^[9]

Timeline

• c. 1832 – first record, in Golescu's dictionary.^[3][4]
• 1862 – in Pontbriant's dictionary.^[6]

Meanings

Verb

1. To pad or line a garment with vată or vatelină; bumbăci.^[2][3][1]
2. To fill a blanket with wadding or wool and quilt it.^[3][7]
3. By extension, to upholster; capitona.^[2][3]
4. (slang) To beat someone soundly; to sentence to prison.^[9]

Word family

• vătuit
• vătuială

vătui² yearling kid or hare

Forms

vătui m (plural vătui)^[1]

Etymology

The word for a yearling kid is inherited from Vulgar Latin *vituleus, from Latin vitulus (“calf; young animal”), according to Ciorănescu, DEX, MDA2 and Wiktionary, after Weigand and Pușcariu.^{[10][2][3][1][11]} The Latin noun goes back to Proto-Indo-European *wet- (“year”), so it first meant a yearling.^[12] It survives south of the Danube: Aromanian vitulj and Megleno-Romanian vitul'u.^[10][13][14]

Other scholars see an older word shared with Albanian.^[15][7] The REW thinks the Romanian, Megleno-Romanian and Aromanian forms rest on Albanian vetul and Modern Greek βετούλι (vetoúli) “young goat”.^[15] Tiktin accepts the derivation from Latin but notes that the Albanian word, which might then underlie the Romanian, may also come from vjet (“year”).^[4] MDA2 compares ftujë and vëtulë, and the DLR and DEXI call the word pre-Roman, with the same Albanian comparison.^[3][7][16] Ciorănescu rejects the Lexicon de la Buda's Latin *haeduleus and Cihac's Hungarian fiatal (“young”).^[10]

The word passed from Romanian into Ukrainian ватуля (vatulja) and Polish wetula, and Ciorănescu, after Candrea, also derives the Albanian vëtulj from it.^[10][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is a Moldavian document of 1611 published by Ștefanelli, which lists „2 vătui” among sheep and lambs.^[3][7] The Bucharest Bible of 1688 has the feminine vătuie for the she-goat of a sin offering (Leviticus 5:6), translating Ancient Greek χίμαιρα (khímaira).^[4]

Semantic evolution

The word names a kid or a young he-goat, especially in its second year, and also a young hare up to a year old.^[3][2] Dosoftei used it as an adjective, tauri, vătui “young bulls”.^[10][7] A speaker from Hațeg explained the stages: a kid is ied from spring to autumn, vătui from autumn, and țap after a year.^[17] Further senses are the tanned skin of a young roe deer, a castrated ram or goat, a big mouse in Muntenia, and a pet name for a child or a young man.^[3]

Timeline

• 1611 – first record, in a Moldavian document.^[3][7]
• 1673 – adjectival use in Dosoftei's verse psalter.^[10][7]
• 1688 – vătuie in the Bucharest Bible (Leviticus 5:6).^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A kid or young goat up to a year old; also a young hare.^[2][3][1]
2. The tanned skin of a young roe deer.^[2][3]
3. (regional) A castrated ram or goat; a noaten.^[3][16]