înainte

Forms

Variants are nainte and, in old texts, ainte, îrainte and rainte; regional forms include înante, măinte and năinte.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin ab ante (“before”) with the Romanian prefix în- added, according to Ciorănescu and Wiktionary.^[4][1] DEX and MDA2 give a Latin compound in ab ante directly.^[3][2] Ciorănescu notes that Medieval Latin in ab antea is recorded in the 9th century.^[4] ante means “before”.^[5]

The details are disputed.^[4] Ciorănescu explains the simple ainte as the regular result of abante, its vowel changed by analogy with pairs such as cuvânt / cuvinte; old texts have it only inside compounds such as nainte and mainte.^[4] The REW derives it from a Latin compound directly, and Pascu from in abante.^[4] The DA sees a blend of the simple form with îninte, from in ante, and explains deinte as de with a lost Romanian outcome of the simple Latin word.^[6][4] Candrea and Densusianu start from the same compound as Pascu.^[7]

The Aromanian cognates are nănte and ninte, which Papahagi derives from that Latin phrase.^[4][8] The Romance cognates include Italian avanti, French avant and Catalan abans, from the simple Latin compound.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

MDA2's first record is the Codicele Voronețean (c. 1563–1583), and Tiktin cites the same text for the sense “before, in front”.^[2][9] Coresi's psalter of 1570 has the word four times.^[10]

Semantic evolution

The adverb has a sense of place, “in front, ahead”, and a sense of time, “earlier, first”;^[3] DER adds “at the head, foremost” and the old adjectival use “previous”.^[4][3] As a preposition it means “in front of, in the presence of”, mostly in the form înaintea.^[4] Used as an interjection it urges people on: Înainte! “Forward!”.^[3][9]

Old Romanian translated Greek compounds with it: înainte-cuvântare “preface” was modelled on Ancient Greek πρόλογος (prólogos), and înainte-mergător “forerunner” on πρόδρομος (pródromos).^[4] From the adverb Romanian formed the verb înainta “to advance” and the noun înaintaș “ancestor, forerunner”.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 1563–1583 – înainte in the Codicele Voronețean, the first record.^[2][9]
• 1570 – înainte in Coresi's psalter.^[10]

Meanings

Adverb

1. In front, ahead; at the head.^[3][1]
2. (interjection) forward!: an urging to advance.^[3]
3. before, earlier, first: mai înainte “formerly; sooner”;^[3] înainte vreme “in olden times”.^[3]
4. On, further, onwards: de azi înainte “from today on”.^[3]

Preposition

1. In front of, in the presence of; before (in time): înainte de masă “before the meal”.^[4][2]

Word family

• înaintea
• dinainte
• înainta
• înaintaș
• înainte-mergător

Related words

• Aromanian nănte
• Latin ante

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 1199
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 536
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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
5. ^ Graur, Alexandru (1980), Cuvinte înrudite, București: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică
6. ^ 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. înainte
7. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Densusianu, Ov. (1907–1914), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române: elementele latine (A–Putea), București
8. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne
9. ^ a b c Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. înainte
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 84:14