încânta

Forms

încânta (third-person singular present încântă, past participle încântat), 1st conjugation^[1]

Etymology

DEX and Wiktionary take it as formed from Romanian în- + cânta (“to sing”), on the model of French enchanter.^[2][1] Tiktin and Marcu & Maneca also see the French verb as the model, Tiktin with Latin and Italian incantare beside it.^[3][4] MDA2, Candrea–Densusianu and the DA derive it instead from Latin incantō (“to put a spell on, enchant”); the DA explains only the literary sense “to charm, delight” by French.^[5][6][7] The REW also lists the Romanian word under the Latin verb.^[8] Wiktionary compares Aromanian ncãntu, itself either a formation on cãntu or from the Latin verb.^[1]

The Latin verb is formed from in- and cantō (“to sing”).^[9] The French verb was borrowed from the same Latin verb and adapted to chanter; it meant first “to put under a magic power” and, since the 17th century, “to fill with delight”.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is in Ion Budai-Deleanu, about 1800.^[3] The DA's popular sense, “to bewitch by chanting magic formulas”, close to descânta, is first recorded by MDA2 in Grigoriu-Rigo's book of folk medicine (1907), where old women charm away worms.^[5][7]

Semantic evolution

The DA separates a popular sense, “to bewitch with spells”, from a literary one taken from French: “to captivate, fascinate”, which it quotes from Pann, Bălcescu, Alecsandri and Eminescu.^[7] Today the main sense is “to delight, fill with joy or admiration”, and a second one is “to delude, deceive”, also reflexive.^[2][5] Derivatives include încântare “delight; enchantment” and încântător “charming”.^[7][6]

Timeline

• c. 1800 – the first record, in Ion Budai-Deleanu.^[3]
• 1907 – the popular magic sense in Grigoriu-Rigo's Medicina poporului.^[5][7]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To delight, fill with joy, admiration or enthusiasm; to charm, fascinate: Muzica lor i-a încântat pe toți.^[2][5]
2. (transitive and reflexive) To delude, deceive (oneself), fool.^[2][5]
3. (old, popular) To bewitch by saying magic formulas.^[5][7]

Word family

• încântare
• încântat
• încântător

Related words

• cânta
• descânta
• French enchanter

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 538
3. ^ 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. încânta
4. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. încânta
5. ^ a b c d e f g Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 1205
6. ^ a b Candrea, I.-A.; Densusianu, Ov. (1907–1914), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române: elementele latine (A–Putea), București
7. ^ a b c d e f 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. încânta
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert