înfige

Forms

înfige (third-person singular present înfige, past participle înfipt, third-person subjunctive înfigă), 3rd conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin īnfīgō (“to fix in, fasten”),^[2][3][4][1] a compound of fīgō (“to fix”) with the prefix in-.^[5] The participle înfipt continues a Latin *īnfictum, formed for īnfīxum on the model of verbs such as dīcō and faciō.^[2][6]

The verb survives in Aromanian nhig.^[2] Its Romance cognate is Italian infiggere.^[7][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is the Psaltirea Scheiană (c. 1573–1578), at Psalm 37:3, and MDA2 also dates it from that psalter.^[8][3] Mardarie's lexicon of 1649 has înfig and înfipt.^[9]

Semantic evolution

The verb means to drive something pointed deep into something else, and early writers stick knives into the ground or a needle into a candle.^[8][4] Old texts also spoke of pitching tents or a camp.^[3] The reflexive a se înfige came to mean to push oneself in, to meddle where one has no business; from it come the adjectives înfipt “pushy” and înfigăreț “forward, intrusive”.^[2][4] A participle-based variant înfipta is rare and Moldavian.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1573–1578 – the Psaltirea Scheiană.^[8][3]
• 1649 – înfig and înfipt in Mardarie's lexicon.^[9]
• 1688 – înfige and înfipse in the Bucharest Bible.^[10]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To thrust or drive a pointed object deep into something; to stick in: înfige un țăruș în pământ “to drive a stake into the ground”.^[4][1]
2. (reflexive, figurative, colloquial) To meddle, to take something on without right or skill, to push in boldly.^[4][2]

Word family

• înfipt
• înfigăreț

Related words

• fix
• Aromanian nhig

Usage notes

A înfige mâna (or mâinile) în ceva means to grab something firmly.^[4] The simple past is înfipsei and the participle înfipt.^[4]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f 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. înfige
3. ^ a b c d Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 1226
4. ^ a b c d e f g DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 546
5. ^ Graur, Alexandru (1980), Cuvinte înrudite, București: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică, p. 85
6. ^ a b Candrea, I.-A.; Densusianu, Ov. (1907–1914), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române: elementele latine (A–Putea), București
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 4402
8. ^ 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. înfige
9. ^ 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. înfig
10. ^ Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Judg 3:21