Etymologically
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ascap

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Forms

ascap (third-person singular ascapã, participle ascãpatã)[1]

  • First conjugation: aorist ascãpai, imperfect ascãpam, participle ascãpatã, infinitive ascãpari.[2][3]
  • Other spellings: scap, which Wiktionary treats as the main form and Cunia refers to ascap;[1][4] ASCAP and SCAP in Papahagi's dictionary;[3][5] ascápu in Mihăileanu's Romanian-based spelling,[6] ascăp in Dalametra's,[7] ascapu in DIARO;[8] ἀσκάπου (askápu) in Nikolaidis's Greek script.[9]
  • Regional forms: askäp, used both intransitively and transitively, in Weigand's texts;[10] Ascăp in P. Papahagi's tales.[11]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *excappō (“to escape”),[3][12][13][1] a verb formed on Late Latin cappa (“cloak”) with the prefix ex- (“out of”).[13][1] Pușcariu and Nikolaidis explain it as getting out of the cloak that holds one back, that is, throwing it off to run away.[14][9]

The verb is common to Aromanian, Romanian scăpa and Megleno-Romanian scap.[15][16] It has western cognates in Italian scappare, French échapper and Spanish escapar.[13][15]

Semantic evolution

From "to escape, get away" the verb came to mean to save or rescue someone, and to get out of a hard situation.[3][17][11] A second sense, to finish or be done with something, includes the money "escaping", that is, being spent to the last coin;[3][17][11] P. Papahagi's tales use it for coming to the end of a story.[3][17][11] Mihăileanu glosses it with Romanian mântui, "to save, to be rid of", as in being rid of small debts.[6] Wiktionary also gives "to drop (something)" for scap.[1]

Timeline

  • 1894 – askäp “I escape” in Weigand's glossary.[10]
  • 1901 – ascápu “to escape, to save” in Mihăileanu's dictionary.[6]
  • 1925 – Pascu derives it from Vulgar Latin *excappāre.[12]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To escape, get away; to get out of a difficult situation.[17][3][1]
  2. (transitive) To save, rescue.[6][11]
  3. To finish, be done with; to spend (money) to the end.[17][3]
  • Romanian scăpa

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net), p. 138
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Papahagi, Tache (1974), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, 2nd augmented ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. 221
  4. ^ Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net), p. 903
  5. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 926
  6. ^ a b c d Mihăileanu, Ștefan (1901), Dicționar macedo-român, București, p. 47
  7. ^ Dalametra, I. (1906), Dicționar macedo-român, București: Academia Română, p. 30
  8. ^ Caragiu Marioțeanu, Matilda et al. (1997), Dicționar aromân (macedo-vlah) DIARO, A–D, București, p. 391
  9. ^ a b Νικολαΐδης, Κωνσταντίνος (1909), Ετυμολογικόν λεξικόν της κουτσοβλαχικής γλώσσης, Αθήνα, p. 89
  10. ^ a b Weigand, Gustav (1894), Die Aromunen: ethnographisch-philologisch-historische Untersuchungen, vol. II: Volksliteratur der Aromunen (with a glossary), Leipzig: J. A. Barth, p. 295
  11. ^ a b c d e Papahagi, Pericle (1905), Basme aromâne și glosar, București: Academia Română, p. 539
  12. ^ a b Pascu, Giorge (1925), Dictionnaire étymologique macédoroumain, 2 vols. (I: Les éléments latins et romans; II: Les éléments grecs, turcs, slaves, albanais, germaniques, magyars, néologismes, créations immédiates, obscurs), Iași: Cultura Națională, p. 1, 57
  13. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  14. ^ Pușcariu, Sextil (1905), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der rumänischen Sprache I: Lateinisches Element, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
  15. ^ a b Ciorănescu, Alexandru (1958–1966), Diccionario etimológico rumano, La Laguna: Universidad de La Laguna (Romanian ed.: Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române, București: Saeculum, 2001)
  16. ^ Capidan, Theodor (1935), Meglenoromânii III: Dicționar meglenoromân, București: Academia Română
  17. ^ a b c d e Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net)