îmbrățișare

Forms

îmbrățișare f (plural îmbrățișări)^[1] A regional variant îmbrățoșare is used in Moldavia and Transylvania, and Kogălniceanu wrote it.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is the long infinitive of the verb, from Romanian îmbrățișa + -re, used as a noun of action.^[1][5][2]

The verb îmbrățișa is recorded from 1581.^[6] MDA2 analyses it as the prefix în- with brățiș, and Tiktin and Wiktionary connect it with braț (“arm”).^[5][6][1] That noun goes back to Latin bracchium (“arm”).^[7] Wiktionary compares verbs of the same make in other languages: Aromanian ambratsu, French embrasser and Italian abbracciare.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

MDA2 and Tiktin date the noun to 1776, to a Minei (the liturgical book of the saints' services) printed that year, where it means the taking of someone in one's arms.^[5][8]

Semantic evolution

The noun follows the senses of the verb.^[5][2] Besides the embrace itself, DEX gives a caress by extension, and MDA2 a rare euphemism for sexual union.^[2][5] As the verb came to mean taking up a faith or a calling (Ghica writes that someone had „îmbrățișat legea lui Mahomet” “embraced the law of Muhammad”), the noun took the figurative senses of adopting a profession, a doctrine or an idea.^[6][5] Other figurative senses are the taking in of a view with one's eyes and a surrounding on all sides;^[5][4] Sadoveanu writes of a boy who escaped „din îmbrățișarea valului” “from the embrace of the wave”.^[5][4]

Timeline

• 1581 – the verb îmbrățișa in the Palia de la Orăștie.^[6]
• 1688 – the verb in the Bucharest Bible, MDA2's first record of it.^[5][6]
• 1776 – îmbrățișare in the Minei, the first record of the noun.^[5][8]
• 1931 – CADE records the regional form îmbrățoșare of Moldavia and Transylvania.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. An embrace, a hug: the taking of someone in one's arms as a sign of affection; by extension, a caress.^[2][1]
2. (figurative) The adoption of a profession, a doctrine, a method or an idea.^[5]
3. (figurative) A surrounding on all sides; a taking in with the eyes or the mind.^[5]
4. (euphemistic, rare) Sexual union.^[5]

Related words

• îmbrățișa
• braț

Usage notes

The plural is îmbrățișări;^[5] MDA2 records a rare plural îmbrățișeri.^[5]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 531
3. ^ a b Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. îmbrățișare
4. ^ a b c Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 2, 566
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 1184
6. ^ a b c d e 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
7. ^ Cihac, A. de (1870), Dictionnaire d'étymologie daco-romane I: Éléments latins comparés avec les autres langues romanes, Frankfurt am Main, p. 28
8. ^ a b Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. îmbrățișare