îndeplini

Forms

îndeplini (third-person singular present îndeplinește, past participle îndeplinit) 4th conjugation^[1] The oldest texts have the verb without the prefix, deplini: „Să-i lumineze pre fiii Românilor și să-i deplinească” “to enlighten the sons of the Romanians and make them perfect” (Petru Maior).^[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from Romanian în- + deplin (“full, complete”).^[4][5][1] DA describes it more exactly as a derivative of the adjective, first deplini, to which the prefix was added later.^[2] Ciorănescu lists it in the family of plin “full”.^[6] The adjective is itself from Romanian de- + plin,^[7][1] and its base is from Latin plēnus (“full”).^[6] The older verb împlini “to fill, fulfil” is built on the same adjective.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the verb from Petru Maior's history of 1812, where the form is still deplini “to make perfect”.^[3][2] The Lexicon de la Buda (1825), MDA2's first record, also has deplini.^[5][2] The noun deplinire is older: the Bible of 1688 has „întru toată deplinirea” “completely, utterly”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

DA records four senses: to fulfil (a mission, an oath, an order), to take someone's place (Bălcescu: in the Aga's absence he filled his place), to perfect, and to complete (a ration of hay made up with straw).^[2] Of these only “to carry out, accomplish” remains common;^[5][4] MDA2 marks the others as obsolete.^[5][4] Phrases such as a aduce la îndeplinire “to put into effect” belong to the language of administration and law.^[2] Tiktin also records the sense “to complete” of a law code being drafted.^[3]

Timeline

• 1812 – deplini “to make perfect” in Petru Maior's history.^[3][2]
• 1825 – deplini in the Lexicon de la Buda.^[5][2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To fulfil, accomplish, carry out: to bring something to a good end: Și-a îndeplinit toate obligațiile.^[4][5]
2. To perform a task or a function; to have as one's mission.^[5][8]
3. (obsolete) To complete; to perfect.^[5][2]
4. (obsolete) To take someone's place for a time.^[5][2]

Word family

• îndeplinire
• neîndeplinit

Related words

• deplin
• plin
• împlini

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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. îndeplini
3. ^ a b c d Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. îndepliní
4. ^ a b c d DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 544
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 1221
6. ^ 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. plin
7. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 647
8. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. îndeplini