acats

Forms

acats (third-person singular acatsã, simple perfect acãtsai, imperfect acãtsam, participle acãtsatã, infinitive acãtsare)^[1]

• Verb of the first conjugation: simple perfect acãtsai, imperfect acãtsam, participle acãtsatã, infinitive acãtsari or acãtsare.^[2][1]
• Other spellings: acatsu in Wiktionary;^[1] ACÁȚU in Papahagi's dictionary;^[3] acáțu in Mihăileanu's Romanian-based spelling,^[4] acațu in DIARO;^[5] ακάτσου (akátsu) in Nikolaidis's Greek script;^[6] akäts in Weigand's glossary;^[7] the form its editor reads akatsu in Kavalliotis's word list.^[8]
• Katsanis and Dinas give the aorist acátsai and the participle acátsatu;^[9] in the dialect of Metsovo it is acátsu.^[10]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *accaptiō (“to catch”),^[3][1][9] formed with ad- on captiāre (“to chase, catch”),^[11][12] itself from captus (“caught”), the past participle of capiō (“to take”).^[1] Nikolaidis had already set up the same Latin verb.^[6] Ciorănescu calls the origin uncertain but notes that the derivation from the Latin verb is the generally accepted one.^[13]

The verb is shared by the four Eastern Romance languages: Romanian acăța (also agăța), Megleno-Romanian cats and Istro-Romanian acaţå.^[13][11][14] In Romanian it came to mean above all "to hang, hook";^[15] Candrea and Densusianu derive that sense from "to take", against Schuchardt, who saw in it the influence of Hungarian akasztani.^[15] Pușcariu gives "to seize, grasp" as its basic meaning.^[11] Elsewhere in Romance captiāre gave the verbs for hunting: Italian cacciare, French chasser, Spanish cazar and Portuguese caçar.^[12][13]

De Vaan traces capiō to Proto-Italic *kap-i- and Proto-Indo-European *kh₂p-i-, or to a non-Indo-European root "to seize"; its relatives include Ancient Greek κάπτω (káptō, “to gulp down”).^[16]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Kavalliotis's word list of 1770, where the verb, read akatsu by Meyer, translates Modern Greek πιάνω (piáno, “to catch, take hold of”).^[8]

Semantic evolution

From "to seize, catch" the verb spread over a wide field: DDA lists seventeen senses, among them to occupy, to begin, to come to blows, to conceive, to understand, to suck (of a baby), to paralyse, to fit well (of a garment) and to rent.^[3] Cunia adds to hang up and, with a following verb, to start doing something.^[2] Diseases and moods "catch" a person: Mihăileanu quotes mi acáță hiávra "the fever takes me";^[4] DIARO says of a woman or a goat nu-acațâ, "does not conceive".^[17] In the set phrase acáțu gúvile (literally "I catch the holes") it means to run off and hide.^[4][2][18]

Timeline

• 1770 – akatsu (Meyer's reading) “to take hold of” in Kavalliotis's word list.^[8]
• 1894 – akäts “I seize” in Weigand's glossary.^[7]
• 1901 – acáțu “to grasp, hang, catch, begin” in Mihăileanu's dictionary.^[4]
• 1909 – ακάτσου (akátsu) in Nikolaidis's dictionary, derived from Latin.^[6]

Meanings

Verb

1. To grab, take hold of, seize.^[2][1][3]
2. To catch, capture; to hunt or land an animal.^[1][3]
3. To hang up, hook.^[2][1][4]
4. To begin, start (with a following verb); (reflexive) to set about something.^[2][1][5]
5. To occupy a place; to rent property.^[3][1]
6. To understand, grasp.^[3][1]
7. Of an illness or a mood: to come over someone.^[2][1][4]
8. (intransitive) Of a woman or a female animal: to conceive.^[3][17]
9. To fit well, of a garment.^[3]

Word family

• acãtsare
• acãtsat

Related words

• Romanian acăța
• Istro-Romanian acaţå

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net), p. 9
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 51
4. ^ a b c d e f Mihăileanu, Ștefan (1901), Dicționar macedo-român, București, p. 3
5. ^ a b Caragiu Marioțeanu, Matilda et al. (1997), Dicționar aromân (macedo-vlah) DIARO, A–D, București, p. 6
6. ^ a b c Νικολαΐδης, Κωνσταντίνος (1909), Ετυμολογικόν λεξικόν της κουτσοβλαχικής γλώσσης, Αθήνα, p. 14
7. ^ a b Weigand, Gustav (1894), Die Aromunen: ethnographisch-philologisch-historische Untersuchungen, vol. II: Volksliteratur der Aromunen (with a glossary), Leipzig: J. A. Barth, p. 290
8. ^ a b c Meyer, Gustav (1895), Albanesische Studien IV: Das griechisch-südrumänisch-albanesische Wörterverzeichnis des Kavalliotis, Sitzungsberichte der Kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften in Wien, phil.-hist. Classe 132, p. 97
9. ^ a b Κατσάνης, Νικόλαος; Ντίνας, Κωνσταντίνος (1990), Γραμματική της κοινής κουτσοβλαχικής, Θεσσαλονίκη: Αρχείο Κουτσοβλαχικών Μελετών, p. 135
10. ^ Δασούλας, Φώτης (2013), Το βλαχικό ιδίωμα του Μετσόβου, 2nd ed.
11. ^ a b c Pușcariu, Sextil (1905), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der rumänischen Sprache I: Lateinisches Element, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 1
12. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
13. ^ a b c Ciorănescu, Alexandru (1958–1966), Diccionario etimológico rumano, La Laguna: Universidad de La Laguna (Romanian ed.: Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române, București: Saeculum, 2001)
14. ^ Kovačec, August (1998), Istrorumunjsko-hrvatski rječnik (s gramatikom i tekstovima), Pula
15. ^ a b Candrea, I.-A.; Densusianu, Ov. (1907–1914), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române: elementele latine (A–Putea), București
16. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
17. ^ a b Caragiu Marioțeanu, Matilda et al. (1997), Dicționar aromân (macedo-vlah) DIARO, A–D, București, p. 283
18. ^ Papahagi, Pericle (1905), Basme aromâne și glosar, București: Academia Română, p. 507