împlini

Forms

împlini (third-person singular present împlinește, past participle împlinit) 4th conjugation^[1] Old texts also have the unprefixed verb plini: the Bucharest Bible of 1688 renders Matthew 5:17 as „N-am venit să stric (legea), ce să plinesc” “I have not come to destroy the law, but to fulfil it”.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is generally taken as inherited from Vulgar Latin *impleniō, a verb formed on plēnus (“full”).^[4][1] Ciorănescu names Densusianu, Candrea–Densusianu and Pușcariu for this etymon, while Cihac derived the verb from Old Church Slavonic.^[4] The Academy dictionary takes it from a Latin plēnēscō with the prefix în- added in Romanian.^[5] DEX gives the same etymon and, as an alternative, a formation from Romanian în- + plini, the old verb being made from plin.^[6] MDA2 gives only the latter.^[7]

The verb survives south of the Danube: Aromanian mplinescu.^[1][8] Wiktionary compares Romansh emplenir, Venetian inpinir and Catalan emplenar, and Old French plenir.^[1] The adjective itself is from Proto-Indo-European *pl̥h₁nós (“full”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is the Cazania of Govora of 1642, with the sense “to complete, make up, replace”.^[2] MDA2 dates its first record to a document of before 1661 published in the Uricariul.^[7]

Semantic evolution

The oldest senses are concrete: to fill a gap or a vessel, to make something whole or complete, to make up for what is missing.^[5][7] Phrases such as Pann's proverb that where the lion's skin does not reach, it is eked out with the fox's, show the sense “to make up, supplement”.^[2]

From completing a number the verb came to mean reaching an age, as in Ispirescu's copilul împlinea cincisprezece ani “the child was turning fifteen”, and, reflexively, the running out of a term of time.^[2][9] With a promise, an order or a duty as object it means “to carry out, fulfil”: Tiktin quotes Alecsandri's Împlini-voi al tău gând “I will fulfil your wish” and the saying Omul hotărește și Dumnezeu împlinește “man proposes, God disposes”.^[2] Old and regional senses include paying off a debt and forcing a debtor to pay, and a reflexive “to fill out, put on weight” said of the body.^[6][7] The colloquial a o împlini cu cineva means “to break with someone” or “to come to grief with someone”.^[2][7]

Timeline

• 1642 – împlini in the Cazania of Govora, the first record.^[2]
• before 1661 – a document in the Uricariul.^[7]
• 1688 – plinesc “I fulfil” in the Bucharest Bible, Matthew 5:17.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To turn a certain age, to reach a number of years: Fiica mea a împlinit zece ani.^[6][1]
2. (reflexive, of time) To come to its term, to elapse, to expire.^[6]
3. To make full or whole, to complete, a-și împlini somnul “to get enough sleep”.^[6][7]
4. (reflexive, of people or animals) To fill out, to put on weight, (figurative) to reach maturity.^[6][1]
5. To fulfil, to carry out, (reflexive) to come true: Visul i s-a împlinit.^[6][1]
6. To pay off a debt, (dated, regional) to make a debtor pay.^[6][7]
7. (regional) a o împlini (cu cineva) “to come to grief (with someone)”, i s-a împlinit “his luck has run out”.^[6]

Word family

• împlinire
• împlinit
• neîmplinit
• împlinitor

Related words

• plin
• plini
• deplin
• îndeplini
• Aromanian mplinescu
• Latin plēnus

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. împlini
3. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 422
4. ^ 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. plin
5. ^ a b 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. împlini
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 534
7. ^ 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, 1193
8. ^ Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net)
9. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 2, 576