înșela

Forms

înșela (third-person singular present înșală, past participle înșelat, third-person subjunctive înșele), first conjugation^[1] Old texts also write înșăla: „au înșălat măgărița lui” “he saddled his she-ass” (Bible of 1688, Numbers 22:21).^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *insellō (“to saddle”), from sella (“seat; saddle”), according to DEX, Tiktin and Wiktionary.^[4][2][1] DA and MDA2 give the same source for the verb “to saddle”, which DA says is kept in all the Romance languages.^[5][3] Ciorănescu lists the verb among the derivatives of șa, and Wiktionary also allows this.^[6][1]

For the sense “to deceive”, DA and MDA2 give another source, borrowed from Old Church Slavonic мъшелъ (mŭšelŭ, “profit, gain”), after Miklosich, Cihac, Weigand and Pușcariu;^[5][3] DA starts the verb's history from the sense “to gain”.^[5][3] The Slavonic word meant “shameful profit, usury” and is traced to Proto-Slavic *mьšelъ; the Bulgarian etymological dictionary takes it from Latin misellus.^[7][8] The Lexicon de la Buda, Tiktin, Șăineanu, Papahagi, Skok and Spitzer identify “deceive” with “saddle” instead.^[5] Tiktin thinks of the tricks needed to saddle a horse that is not yet tame, and Ciorănescu of verbs such as potcovi “to shoe”, which also mean “to cheat”, and of Serbo-Croatian nasamariti, which has both senses.^[2][6] Aromanian nshiuedz means both “to saddle” and “to deceive”.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is the form înșală “deceives” in Coresi's Psalter of 1570.^[10] Tiktin's first record for “deceive” is the Psaltirea Scheiană (c. 1573–1578), and his first for “saddle” Dosoftei's Parimiile of 1683.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Coresi's Carte de învățătură of 1581 uses the verb for “to gain, to earn”, of wealth not gained honestly.^[5][3] DA explains that the sense “gain” narrowed to “gain by cunning”, and then to “deceive, cheat”.^[5] Later senses are “to seduce a woman”, “to be unfaithful to one's spouse” and, reflexive, “to be mistaken”.^[2][4]

The sense “to saddle” is recorded from the 17th century, in Dosoftei and the Bible of 1688.^[2][5] DA notes that the literary language avoided it because of the ambiguity, and used the newer înșeua instead;^[5][2] Tiktin calls that form a new derivative of șa.^[5][2]

Timeline

• 1570 – înșală “deceives” in Coresi's Psalter, the first record.^[10]
• c. 1573–1578 – “to deceive” in the Psaltirea Scheiană.^[2]
• 1581 – “to gain” in Coresi's Carte de învățătură.^[3][5]
• 1683 – “to saddle” in Dosoftei's Parimiile.^[2]
• 1688 – înșălează-mi măgărița “saddle my she-ass” in the Bucharest Bible.^[3][5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To deceive, to mislead someone by abusing their good faith;^[4][3] a înșela așteptările “to disappoint”.^[4][3]
2. Of the senses or the memory, to fail, to give a false picture of reality.^[4]
3. Reflexive: to be mistaken.^[4]
4. To be unfaithful to one's spouse or partner; to seduce a girl or a woman.^[4]
5. (obsolete) To saddle a horse; see înșeua.^[4][3]
6. (obsolete) To gain, to earn.^[3]

Word family

• înșelăciune
• înșelător
• înșelătură
• înșelare

Related words

• șa
• deșeua
• deșela
• înșeua
• Aromanian nshiuedz
• Latin sella

Usage notes

Dacă nu mă înșel means “if I am not mistaken”.^[3] In the old sense “to saddle” MDA2 gives the present înșelez.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. înșela
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 1249
4. ^ 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. 554
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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. înșela
6. ^ 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. șa
7. ^ Derksen, Rick (2008), Etymological Dictionary of the Slavic Inherited Lexicon, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 4, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 343
8. ^ Georgiev, Vladimir I. et al. (eds.) (1971–), Bălgarski etimologičen rečnik, Sofija: Izdatelstvo na Bălgarskata akademija na naukite, p. 4, 438
9. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 782
10. ^ a b Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Ungureanu, Mădălina; Moruz, Alexandru et al., roPsalt: Re-evaluating the Sixteenth Century Romanian Psalters (aligned corpus), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. Ps 14:3