încasa

Forms

încasa (third-person singular present încasează, past participle încasat), 1st conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Italian incassare, according to DEX, MDA2, MDN and Wiktionary.^[2][3][4][1] DELR gives both the Italian verb and French encaisser, and explains the initial ⟨în-⟩ as a Romanian adaptation of the older form incasa.^[5] CADE and DN take it from the French verb alone.^[6][7] The Italian verb is formed in- + cassa (“box, cash box”) + -are,^[1] and the Italian noun goes back to Latin capsa (“box”).^[8] Romanian casă “cash box, cash desk”, recorded from 1787, has the same source.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR dates the verb to 1876, in the older form incasa, with the sense “to receive money”.^[5] CADE (1931) still enters it as incasa, “to receive a sum that is owed”.^[6]

Semantic evolution

The sense has stayed “to receive money”, extended to cashing the value of a bill of exchange or a banknote.^[2][9] A jocular figurative sense, “to take blows, to get a beating”, is quoted from Ion Pas's Zilele vieții tale (1949), where someone at a brawl takes three punches.^[3][9] Italian has a similar boxing sense, recorded there from 1927.^[10] Derivatives are încasabil (1880) and încasator “collector of money due” (1929).^[5]

Timeline

• 1787 – Romanian casă “cash box”, the noun of the same source.^[5]
• 1876 – the verb, as incasa, “to receive money”.^[5]
• 1880 – încasabil “collectable”.^[5]
• 1929 – încasator “collector”.^[5]
• 1931 – incasa in CADE, explained from French encaisser.^[6]
• 1949 – the figurative “to take blows” in Ion Pas.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To receive a sum of money; to cash a bill, a cheque or a banknote.^[2][11]
2. (transitive, figurative, colloquial) To take blows or a beating: a încasa o palmă “to get slapped”.^[2][11]

Word family

• încasare
• încasabil
• încasator

Related words

• casă
• casier
• Italian incassare

Usage notes

A o încasa means “to get a beating, to catch it”.^[11]

References

1. ^ a b c 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. 537
3. ^ 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, 1202
4. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual
5. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. casă
6. ^ a b c Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească
7. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România
8. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
9. ^ a b Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne
10. ^ Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
11. ^ a b c Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional