înfunda

Forms

a înfunda (third-person singular present înfundă, past participle înfundat), first conjugation^[1]

Etymology

Its origin is disputed.^[2][3] Ciorănescu, Tiktin and DA take it as formed from Romanian în- + fund, literally “to put a bottom in”, and compare Latin infundō (“to pour into”) only as a parallel.^[3][4][5] MDA2, NODEX and Candrea–Densusianu trace it instead to Vulgar Latin *infundō, and DEX gives both explanations.^{[6][7][8][2][1]} Candrea and Densusianu compare Old French enfonder.^[8] fund is inherited from Latin fundus (“bottom”).^[3][9]

DA groups it with desfunda “to unstop”, afunda and cufunda “to sink”, built on the same noun.^[5][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is a document of 1619.^[4] The Anonymus Caransebesiensis glossary of the mid-17th century renders înfund with Latin fundo impono “I put a bottom on”, the cooper's sense.^[5][6]

Semantic evolution

The first sense is a cooper's word: to fit the bottom into a barrel or tub.^[5][2] From closing a vessel it widened to closing any opening, a bottle, a door, a ditch or a pipe, and to stuffing something full.^[5][6] Thrusting something deep into a place gave a înfunda ocna or pușcăria “to be sentenced to a long prison term”, and Alecsandri's folk poem has „la ocnă-l înfundară” “they shut him up in the salt mine”.^[4][2] As a reflexive it is said of a road that ends blindly, and of a person, i s-a înfundat, who is caught in a situation with no way out.^[2][10] Underworld slang uses it for “to denounce”.^[11]

Timeline

• 1619 – first record, in a document.^[4]
• c. 1650 – înfund “I put a bottom on” in the Anonymus Caransebesiensis glossary.^[5][6]
• 1825 – the Lexicon of Buda glosses înfund o sticlă “I stop a bottle”.^[5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To fit a bottom into a barrel, tub and the like.^[2][6]
2. To stop up an opening completely;^[2][6] a-i înfunda cuiva gura “to shut someone up”;^[2][6] (figurative) to muffle a sound (pe înfundate “stealthily, muffled”).^[2][6]
3. Reflexive, of roads and the like: to come to a dead end; of pipes and ditches: to get clogged;^[2][6] a i se înfunda cuiva “to be cornered, to come to grief”.^[2][6]
4. To thrust or stuff deep in; to fill tight; to pull a hat down on the head;^[2][7] a înfunda pușcăria “to get a long prison sentence”.^[2][7]
5. (figurative) To put someone in a tight spot; reflexive: to hide oneself away, to plunge into a place that seems to have no end.^[2][7]

Word family

• înfundat
• înfundătură

Related words

• fund
• desfunda
• afunda
• cufunda

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 547
3. ^ a b c d 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. fund
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. înfunda
5. ^ a b c d e f g 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. înfunda
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 1230
7. ^ a b c d Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. înfunda
8. ^ a b Candrea, I.-A.; Densusianu, Ov. (1907–1914), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române: elementele latine (A–Putea), București, p. s.v. înfunda
9. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill, p. s.v. fundus
10. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 2, 633
11. ^ Volceanov, George (2007), Dicționar de argou al limbii române, București: Niculescu, p. s.v. înfunda