îndrepta

Forms

îndrepta (present îndrept, also îndreptez; third-person singular îndreaptă, rarely îndreptează; past participle îndreptat), first conjugation.^[2][1] Old variants are înderepta, îndirepta and drepta.^[3][4][5]

Etymology

It is formed from Romanian în- + drept (“straight”), with the prefix that makes verbs from nouns and adjectives, as in îndruma from drum and însemna from semn.^[3][2][4][5] The adjective, older derept, is from Latin dīrēctus (“straight”).^[3]

Other views make the verb older than Romanian.^[5] Candrea and Densusianu, the DA and Tiktin derive it from an older drepta with the prefix, and the DA takes that verb from Vulgar Latin *dērēctō.^[5][6] Philippide and Tiktin start from a Latin *indīrēctō already formed with the prefix.^[5][3] Ciorănescu finds these possible but not probable, and compares *addīrēctiō, the source of French adresser.^[3]

South of the Danube the verb is Aromanian ndreptu and Megleno-Romanian andrept.^[3][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR dates the first record to the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki (c. 1500), in the variant îndereptá.^[5] The roPsalt index finds înderepta there in Psalms 118:5, 139:12 and 142:2.^[7] Tiktin cites the Codicele Voronețean of the 16th century, and MDA2 Varlaam's Cazania of 1643.^[8][4]

Semantic evolution

The literal sense “to make straight what was bent” stands beside the figurative “to set right, to correct, to improve”, since what is crooked is felt as bad and what is straight as good.^[6] Old texts used it for “to justify, to excuse”: „Denaintea a toată lumea îndreptați putem fi” “we can be justified before the whole world”, writes Nicolae Costin.^[8] The reflexive came to mean “to recover from illness” and, of the weather, “to clear up”.^[4][2] A second branch of senses gives direction: to point a weapon or one's eyes at something, to show someone the way, and reflexively to head somewhere.^[2][8] Ciorănescu notes a tendency to conjugate the present as ⟨eu îndreptez⟩.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 1500–1520 – înderepta in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki.^[5][7]
• 16th century – in the Codicele Voronețean.^[8]
• 1643 – in Varlaam's Cazania.^[4]
• 1688 – îndirepta throughout the Bucharest Bible.^[9]

Meanings

Verb

1. To straighten what was bent or crooked; reflexive, of people, to stand up straight.^[2][1]
2. To change for the better, to improve; reflexive, to recover after an illness.^[2][1]
3. To correct one's behaviour.^[2]
4. Reflexive: to set off in a certain direction; transitive, to steer: îndreptă barca spre mal “he steered the boat to the shore”.^[2][1]
5. To show someone the right way; to guide.^[2]
6. To aim a firearm at someone or something.^[2]

Word family

• îndreptător
• îndreptătură
• îndreptar
• îndreptare

Related words

• drept
• Aromanian ndreptu

Usage notes

Set phrases: a-și îndrepta pașii “to head for”, and a-și îndrepta ochii asupra “to turn one's eyes on”.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 545
3. ^ a b c d e f g 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. îndrepta
4. ^ a b c d e Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 1223
5. ^ 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. drept
6. ^ a b 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. îndrepta
7. ^ a b 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 118:5
8. ^ 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. îndrepta
9. ^ Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Facerea 39:23