înfrunzi

Forms

a înfrunzi (third-person singular present înfrunzește, past participle înfrunzit; 4th conjugation)^[1] In Transylvania and the Banat the present is also înfrund, third person înfrunde: „Primăvara când înfrunde, Gura cucului s'aude” “in spring, when the trees come into leaf, the cuckoo's call is heard”.^[2][3] A form without the prefix, frunzi, is also recorded.^[2][4]

Etymology

DEX, MDA2 and Wikționar take it as a formation from Romanian în- + frunză.^[5][3][6] Tiktin also derives it from frunză.^[4] Densusianu, Pușcariu and Candrea–Densusianu instead see in it a Latin verb Vulgar Latin *infrondīre, which would stand for classical frondeō (“to be in leaf”).^[7][8] Candrea–Densusianu compare Italian infrondire.^[8] The DA gives both explanations, a popular Latin verb or a Romanian derivative, and Wiktionary does the same.^[2][1] Șăineanu gave frondēscō (“to put forth leaves”) as its source.^[9]

The noun itself is frondia, according to Ciorănescu.^[7] The verb has a match south of the Danube, Aromanian nfrãndzãscu, which Wiktionary also explains either from the Aromanian noun or from a Latin verb.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is a Gospel text of 1551–1553, at Matthew 24:32, the parable of the fig tree.^[4] MDA2 and the DA date the word from the Tetraevangheliar of 1574, where the same verse says that when the branches are tender and the leaves come out („frundza înfrundzeaște”), the harvest is near.^[3][2] The sense is the botanical one it still has: to put out leaves.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The verb has kept its sense of trees and plants coming into leaf, and by extension of turning green.^[3][5] Folk verse uses it of the forest and of the peony, and a proverb in Zanne says that a tree in leaf shades more people.^[2] Its participle înfrunzit “in leaf” is common in poetry (codrul înfrunzit in Alecsandri), and as a noun înfrunzitul named the time of year when the trees come into leaf.^[2][7]

Timeline

• 1551–1553 – the first record, in a Gospel text at Matthew 24:32.^[4]
• 1574 – înfrundzeaște in the Tetraevangheliar.^[3][2]
• 1688 – înfrunzesc in the Bucharest Bible (Luke 21:30).^[10]
• 1801 – înfrunzesc in Klein's dictionary, glossed with Latin frondeo and frondesco.^[11]

Meanings

Verb

1. (intransitive, of trees and plants) To put out leaves, to become covered with foliage.^[5][3][1]
2. By extension, to turn green, to înverzi.^[3][9]

Word family

• înfrunzire
• înfrunzit

Related words

• frunză
• desfrunzi
• Aromanian nfrãndzãscu

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. înfrunzi
3. ^ a b c d e f g 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 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. înfrunzi
5. ^ a b c DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 547
6. ^ Wikționar (Romanian Wiktionary), ro.wiktionary.org
7. ^ 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. frunză
8. ^ a b Candrea, I.-A.; Densusianu, Ov. (1907–1914), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române: elementele latine (A–Putea), București, p. s.v. înfrunzi
9. ^ a b Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 1, 325
10. ^ Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Luke 21:30
11. ^ Gáldi, László (ed.) (1944), Samuel Klein: Dictionarium valachico-latinum. Primul dicționar al limbii române, Budapest: Királyi Magyar Pázmány Péter Tudományegyetemi Román Intézet (Klein's dictionary of 1801, with Gáldi's etymological study), p. 380