înflori

Forms

înflori (third-person singular present înflorește, past participle înflorit), 4th conjugation^[1] Old texts and the Banat have înfluri; the old present was înflor (third person înfloare) beside înfloresc.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

DEX gives it as inherited from Vulgar Latin *inflōriō (“to blossom”), which MDA2 marks as a reconstructed form.^[5][2] Candrea and Densusianu take it from the same Latin verb and compare Italian infiorire and Old French enflorir; the REW lists the Romanian verb under *flōriō, the fourth-conjugation form of flōreō (“to bloom”) that underlies fiorire and French fleurir.^[6][7][3] The Late Latin form is recorded from the 6th century.^[1]

The Academy dictionary sees two sources: the old present ⟨înflor⟩ continues the Classical verb, while ⟨înfloresc⟩ continues inflōrēscō.^[4] Tiktin and Șăineanu also cite the inchoative verb.^[3][8] Wiktionary analyses it as Romanian în- with the Late Latin verb.^[1] The verb survives south of the Danube as Aromanian nfluriri.^[9][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is înfluri in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki of the early 16th century, in Psalm 27.^[10] The Psaltirea Scheiană (c. 1573–1578) has it in Psalm 89, of the grass that flowers in the morning and withers by evening: „demăreața înfluri-va și treace-va”.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

The first sense is “to blossom”, of plants and of the ground they cover.^[4][5] Figurative senses followed: to appear, to grow and prosper (of the arts, of a country), to be at the height of one's beauty, and, of a face, to brighten or flush.^[5][2] Used transitively it means to decorate with flowers or patterns, and so to embellish a story, to exaggerate.^[5][3] Other senses are technical or regional: of wine or bread, to grow mould; of linen, to be bleached white in the sun; of walls, to flake with damp.^[2][5]

In slang it means to beat someone badly.^[11]

Timeline

• c. 1500-1520 – înfluri in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki, the first record.^[10]
• c. 1573-1578 – înfluri-va “it will flower” in the Psaltirea Scheiană.^[2][4]
• 1688 – înflori throughout the Bucharest Bible.^[12]

Meanings

Verb

1. (intransitive) To bloom or blossom; to be covered with flowers.^[5][1]
2. (intransitive, figurative) To appear; to develop, grow, prosper.^[5][13]
3. (intransitive, figurative) To be in full beauty; of a face, to flush or light up.^[5]
4. (transitive) To embellish with embroidery, drawings or ornaments;^[5] (figurative) to exaggerate.^[5]
5. (transitive, popular) To make linen dazzling white by washing it and drying it in the sun.^[5]

Word family

• înflorit
• înfloritor
• înfloritură

Related words

• floare
• Aromanian nfluriri

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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, 1227
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. înflorí
4. ^ a b c d e 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. înflorí
5. ^ 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. 546
6. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Densusianu, Ov. (1907–1914), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române: elementele latine (A–Putea), București, p. s.v. înflori
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 1, 324
9. ^ Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net), p. 725
10. ^ 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 27:10
11. ^ Volceanov, George (2007), Dicționar de argou al limbii române, București: Niculescu, p. s.v. înflori
12. ^ Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Ps 71:16
13. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. înflori