înfrunta

Forms

înfrunta (third-person singular present înfruntă, past participle înfruntat) 1st conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *infrontō, a verb built on frōns (“forehead”), according to most dictionaries.^{[2][3][4][5][1]} The DA notes that the other Romance languages formed *affrontō instead.^[5] Candrea and Densusianu compare Italian infrontare and Old French enfronter.^[4]

Ciorănescu finds a Latin verb unlikely and treats it as a Romanian formation, from Romanian în- + frunte, recorded from the 17th century.^[6] Wiktionary gives both explanations.^[1] The verb has an Aromanian counterpart, Aromanian nfruntu.^[1][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is Moxa's chronicle of 1620, with the sense “to rebuke”.^[8][5] Dosoftei's lives of the saints (1682–1686) speak of a saint „înfruntându-i păgânia” “reproaching him for his impiety”.^[5][8][3]

Semantic evolution

The DA reads the first sense as “to throw something in someone's face”, a truth or a hard word, the forehead standing for the face.^[5] Șăineanu explained it as “to strike on the forehead”, like a da peste nas, since the forehead and the nose were taken as the seat of pride.^[9] From reproaching a fault the verb passed to rebuking a person harshly, and regionally to mocking.^[5][3] The Bucharest Bible of 1688 also uses it in the reflexive for being put to shame.^[8]

The newer sense, to face a danger or a superior force and stand up to it, matches French affronter.^[5][2] Ciorănescu calls the noun înfrunt “affront” an artificial creation of Negruzzi, modelled on French.^[6]

Timeline

• 1620 – Moxa's chronicle, the first record.^[8]
• 1682–1686 – înfruntându-i “reproaching him” in Dosoftei's lives of the saints.^[3][5]
• 1688 – the reflexive “to be put to shame” in the Bucharest Bible.^[8]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To rebuke someone harshly in front of others; to scold, to reproach.^[2][10]
2. (transitive) To face a danger or a stronger force with courage; to defy: a înfrunta privirea cuiva “to meet someone's eyes”.^[2][10][1]
3. (reflexive, reciprocal) To clash, to have a heated exchange of words.^[2]

Word family

• înfruntare
• înfrunt
• înfruntăciune

Related words

• confrunta
• frunte
• Aromanian nfruntu

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 547
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, 1229
4. ^ a b Candrea, I.-A.; Densusianu, Ov. (1907–1914), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române: elementele latine (A–Putea), București
5. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. înfrunta
6. ^ a b 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. frunte
7. ^ Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net), p. 725
8. ^ a b c d e Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. înfrunta
9. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 325
10. ^ a b Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. înfrunta