îmbrățișa

Forms

îmbrățișa (third-person singular present îmbrățișează, past participle îmbrățișat) 1st conjugation^[1] Moldavian and Transylvanian texts have îmbrățoșa: „Iliaș… îmbrățoșă mahometismul” “Iliaș embraced Islam” (Costache Negruzzi).^[2][3] Cantemir's Istoria ieroglifică has îmbrățășa.^[2]

Etymology

It is formed from Romanian în- + brățiș (“in the arms”), on the pattern of the phrase for “to take in one's arms”.^[2][4][5][6] The adverb brățiș is formed on braț (“arm”),^[7][8] which is from Latin bracchium (“arm”).^[7] Wiktionary takes the verb straight from în and braț.^[1]

Aromanian has the corresponding mbrățișare,^[4] and Wiktionary compares Aromanian ambratsu and the Romance verbs French embrasser and Italian abbracciare,^[1] which are formed on their words for the arm in the same way.^[9][1] The old variant îmbrățoșa replaced the ending after the verbs in ⟨-oșa⟩ such as îmbățoșa.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Palia de la Orăștie, which DELR dates 1582 and Tiktin 1581, at Exodus 18:7, where Moses meets his father-in-law and embraces him.^[4][8] MDA2's first record is the Bible of 1688, in the story of Laban, who runs to meet Jacob, embraces and kisses him (Genesis 29:13).^[6][8]

Semantic evolution

From the physical embrace the verb passed to figurative senses: to welcome someone with love,^[2] to adopt a faith, a doctrine or a method, as when Ghica writes that someone had embraced the law of Muhammad at Jaffa,^[8][2] and to take up a career or profession.^[5][8] A second line of senses is “to take in”: to grasp with the mind, to take in at a glance, to surround on every side, to contain.^[5][10][2] The DA marks the proverb cine îmbrățișează multe, puține adună “who embraces much gathers little” as modelled on French.^[2] In thieves' slang it means “to steal”.^[11]

Timeline

• 1581–1582 – the first record, in the Palia de la Orăștie (Exodus 18:7).^[4][8]
• 1648 – the variant îmbrățoșa in Udriște Năsturel's translation of Varlaam and Ioasaf.^[4]
• 1688 – îmbrățișându-l in the Bucharest Bible (Genesis 29:13).^[8][6]
• 1766 – the figurative sense “to receive with love” and the noun îmbrățișare, both in the Mineiul.^[2]
• 1928 – the noun îmbrățișat “embrace”.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. To hug, to embrace; reflexive, to embrace each other.^[5][6][1]
2. (figurative) To surround on every side, to envelop.^[5][6]
3. (figurative) To take in at a glance; to include among one's concerns.^[5][6]
4. (figurative) To adopt an idea, a doctrine or a belief; to devote oneself to a profession.^[5][6]
5. (figurative) To contain, to comprise.^[5][6]

Word family

• îmbrățișare

Related words

• braț
• brățiș
• Aromanian ambratsu

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 (1913–1949), Dicționarul limbii române (DA), ed. Sextil Pușcariu, tom I (A–B, C, D–De) and tom II (F–I, J–Lojniță), București: Socec / Universul / Monitorul Oficial și Imprimeriile Statului; page scans at cflr-scans.solirom.ro, p. s.v. îmbrățișa
3. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. îmbrățișa
4. ^ a b c d e f g Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2011–), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române (DELR), vol. I: A–B (2011), vol. II: C (2015–2018), București: Editura Academiei Române; continued online at delr.lingv.ro, p. s.v. braț
5. ^ a b c d e f g h DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 531
6. ^ 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. 1, 1184
7. ^ 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), p. s.v. braț
8. ^ a b c d e f g Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. îmbrățișa
9. ^ Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
10. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne
11. ^ Volceanov, George (2007), Dicționar de argou al limbii române, București: Niculescu, p. s.v. îmbrățișa