înapoi

Forms

înapoi (not comparable)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Romanian în + apoi, “in” + “afterwards”.^[2][3][4][5] Apoi itself continues Latin ad (“to”) + post (“after, behind”).^[2] Wiktionary instead takes the whole word from a Latin phrase with in before the preposition and adverb that make up the second part.^[1]

It survives in the sister branches: Aromanian năpoi and Istro-Romanian rapoi.^[2] Regional forms include năpoi in the Banat.^[5][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR dates the first record to the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki (c. 1500), with the sense “behind, back, backwards”; the form înapoia is there too.^[2] Tiktin cites the Codicele Voronețean (1 Peter 3:9).^[5]

Semantic evolution

The first sense is spatial, “backwards, behind”; from it came “back to where it was” and a da înapoi “to give back”.^[4][3] The Bucharest Bible of 1688 has „dennainte și dennapoi” “before and behind”.^[5] In older texts it could also refer back to an earlier passage, “above”: Bălcescu writes „am arătat înapoi” “I showed above”.^[5][4] Figurative senses are “lower in rank” and a da înapoi “to give way, to decline”.^[4]

Romanian derived înapoișurea “backwards” (Dosoftei, 1683) and the verb înapoia “to give back, return” (1819).^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1500 – in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki, the first record.^[2]
• c. 1563–1583 – in the Codicele Voronețean.^[5]
• 1570 – in Coresi's psalter, Psalm 9:3.^[6]
• 1683 – înapoișurea “backwards” in Dosoftei.^[2]
• 1688 – dennapoi “behind” in the Bucharest Bible.^[5]
• 1819 – the verb înapoia “to give back”.^[2]

Meanings

Adverb

1. back, backwards: in the direction opposite to going forward;^[4][3][1] a da înapoi “to step back, to retreat”;^[4][3][1] (figurative) “to give way; to decline”;^[4][3][1] (obsolete) above, earlier in a text.^[4][3][1]
2. Back to where it came from or where it was before: a da (ceva) înapoi “to give back”;^[4][3] a-și lua vorba înapoi “to take back one's word”.^[4][3]
3. Behind others, lower in rank or value.^[4]
4. Earlier, in the past.^[4]

Word family

• înapoia
• dinapoi

Related words

• apoi
• înainte

Usage notes

With the article, înapoia is a preposition with the genitive, “behind”: înapoia casei “behind the house”.^[7][3] Regionally rapoi is a call to make horses back.^[3][7]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2011–), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române (DELR), vol. I: A–B (2011), vol. II: C (2015–2018), București: Editura Academiei Române; continued online at delr.lingv.ro, p. s.v. înapoi
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 1200
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 536
5. ^ a b c d e f g Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. înapoi
6. ^ 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 9:3
7. ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 676