închipui

Forms

închipui (third-person singular present închipuiește, past participle închipuit) 4th conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Romanian în- + chip + -ui.^[2][3][1][4] Ciorănescu lists it among the derivatives of chip, with an old variant chipui that DELR thinks may be only a spelling.^[5][6] The noun chip “image, face” is from Hungarian kép (“image”), whose dialect form is kíp.^[6][5][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is Coresi's Praxiu (the Acts and Epistles) of 1563.^[4] DELR dates the verb to about 1566, with the senses “to imagine” and, in old texts, “to paint”.^[6] MDA2 cites Coresi's Carte de învățătură of 1581.^[3]

Semantic evolution

In the old language the verb meant giving something a shape: to form, to shape, to represent or symbolise, and to liken one thing to another; the Bible of 1688 says that a carpenter au închipuit pre el cu condeiu “marked it out with a pencil”.^[4] The reflexive meant taking on someone's shape.^[4] In the 17th-century lexicons închipuind and închipuit translate Slavonic words for “in parables” and “figuratively”.^[8][9]

From “to form an image” the modern sense “to imagine, to fancy” developed, used with a dative pronoun (a-și închipui).^[4][2] Old derivatives followed the older senses: închipuitură “image” (1639), închipuitor “representing; representative” (1649), închipuință (1681).^[6] Ciorănescu also lists the reflexive sense “to be vain, conceited”.^[5]

Timeline

• 1563 – in Coresi's Praxiu, the first record.^[4]
• c. 1566 – “to imagine; to paint”.^[6]
• 1581 – in Coresi's Carte de învățătură.^[3]
• 1639 – the noun închipuitură “image”.^[6]
• 1649 – închipuind in Mardarie's lexicon, and închipuitor “representing”.^[8][6]
• 1688 – au închipuit “marked out” in the Bucharest Bible.^[4][10]

Meanings

Verb

1. (with a dative pronoun) To form an idea or picture of someone or something; to imagine, fancy: Nu-mi închipuiam că e atât de departe.^[2][1]
2. (reflexive) To imagine oneself in a situation.^[2][3]
3. To make up in the mind, to invent.^[2]
4. To represent, to symbolize; to form.^[2][4]
5. (popular) To make, put together, rig up.^[2]

Word family

• închipuire
• închipuitor

Related words

• chip
• întruchipa
• Hungarian kép

Usage notes

The present is închipui, își închipuie;^[2][3] MDA2 also records închipuiesc.^[2][3]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 540
3. ^ a b c d e f Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 1210
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. închipui
5. ^ a b c 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. chip
6. ^ a b c d e f g 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. chip
7. ^ Tamás, Lajos (1966), Etymologisch-historisches Wörterbuch der ungarischen Elemente im Rumänischen, Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, p. 207
8. ^ a b Ungureanu, Mădălina; Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Moruz, Alexandru (eds.), eRomLex: The First Romanian Bilingual Dictionaries (17th century), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. s.v. închipuind
9. ^ Ungureanu, Mădălina; Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Moruz, Alexandru (eds.), eRomLex: The First Romanian Bilingual Dictionaries (17th century), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. s.v. închipuit
10. ^ Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Isa 44:13