înainta

Forms

înainta (third-person singular present înaintează, past participle înaintat, third-person subjunctive înainteze) 1st conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Romanian înainte + -a, a literary verb of the 19th century made to express what the neologisms progresa and avansa said.^[2][3][4][1] Tiktin sees it as modelled on French avancer.^[5] înainte goes back to ab ante.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is of 1829.^[5] MDA2 cites a text by Drăghici.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Writers of the 19th century used it in the literal sense “to move forward”, of Alecsandri's steamer and of Eminescu's boat moving on with each stroke of the oars.^[2][5] A reflexive use, “to step forward”, was made after French s'avancer.^[2] Figuratively it means “to progress, develop” and, with time, “to go on”, a înainta în vârstă is “to grow old”.^[2][3] The transitive senses are bureaucratic: to promote someone, and to forward a petition or document to the authorities.^[3][5] Barițiu's Hungarian dictionary of 1869 gives it, with înaintare, as an equivalent of Hungarian halad “to advance”.^[7]

Timeline

• 1829 – the first record.^[5]
• 1869 – înaintéza “advances” in Barițiu's Hungarian–Romanian dictionary.^[7]

Meanings

Verb

1. (intransitive) To go forward, to advance, (figurative) to progress.^[3][1]
2. (intransitive) To go on in time, to unfold, a înainta în vârstă “to grow old”.^[3][4]
3. (transitive) To promote to a higher rank, (intransitive) to be promoted.^[3][1]
4. (transitive) To forward or submit a document, a petition: Cererea a fost înaintată ministerului.^[3][1]
5. (dated) To advance a sum of money.^[3]

Word family

• înaintare
• înaintat

Related words

• înainte
• înaintaș
• avansa
• progresa

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d 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. înainta
3. ^ 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. 536
4. ^ a b c Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 1199
5. ^ 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. înainta
6. ^ 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. înainte
7. ^ a b Barițiu, George (1869), Dictionariu unguresc-romanescu, Brașov, p. 217