înnoda

Forms

înnoda (third-person singular present înnoadă, past participle înnodat, third-person subjunctive înnoade) 1st conjugation^[1] Older and regional forms are înoda, noda and nuda.^[2][3] The Anonymus Caransebesiensis spells it enod “I tie a knot”.^[4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin innōdō (“to fasten with a knot”), a verb formed in Latin on nōdō and recorded in late authors such as Ammianus.^[5][1] The REW lists the Romanian verb under the Latin one together with Occitan enozar and Spanish anudar, and Candrea and Densusianu add Old French ennoer.^[6][7] The DA and NODEX also take it from Latin.^[4][8]

DEX and MDA2 see a formation from Romanian în- + nod instead, and Tiktin gives both.^[9][3][2] The noun for “knot” is from Latin nōdus.^[10] Wiktionary also counts the older form noda, from the simple Latin verb.^[1] Aromanian has the simple verb, Aromanian nod “to knot, tie”, from the simple Latin verb, beside anod.^[11] The opposite deznoda has its match in Megleno-Romanian disnudari and Aromanian disnudare.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to the 16th-century Psaltirea Hurmuzaki (Psalm 9:17).^[2] MDA2's first record is the Anonymus Caransebesiensis, a Romanian–Latin glossary of about 1650, which has enod for both “I make a knot” and “I bind”.^[3][4]

Semantic evolution

From tying a knot in a thread the verb came to mean joining, binding together: Cantemir writes of love that strives „a le încleșta și a le înnoda” “to clasp and knot them together”, and of the Goths joining with the Sarmatians.^[4] It also came to mean pairing, said of animals that mate and of people who start a love affair: „ne-am înnodat în dragoste”.^[2][3]

Colloquial senses grew from the idea of tying ends together: “to scrape together” a living and “to patch up, improvise”, as when a priest „înnoda o leturghie ca vai de ea” “botched his way through a liturgy” (Vlahuță).^[2][9] A tightening throat or words that stick are said to knot: mi se înnodau vorbele-n gât.^[2] The reflexive a se înnoda la vorbă means to get talking.^[9][3]

Timeline

• c. 1500–1520 – first record, in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki.^[2]
• c. 1650 – enod “I knot, I bind” in the Anonymus Caransebesiensis.^[3][4]
• 1705 – înnoda “to join” in Cantemir's Istoria ieroglifică.^[4]
• 1862 – Pontbriant explains it as în + nod.^[12]

Meanings

Verb

1. To tie a knot in something, or to join or fasten with a knot, and as a reflexive to become knotted: Și-a înnodat șireturile.^[9][3][1]
2. (reflexive, in a se înnoda la vorbă) To fall into conversation, get talking.^[9][3]
3. (figurative) To scrape together, gather little by little.^[9][8]
4. (colloquial) To improvise, cobble together.^[9][3]
5. (figurative, reflexive) Of animals, to mate, and of people, to start a love affair.^[3][2]

Related words

• nod
• deznoda

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. înnoda
3. ^ 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, 1242
4. ^ a b c d e f 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. înnoda
5. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 4445
7. ^ a b Candrea, I.-A.; Densusianu, Ov. (1907–1914), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române: elementele latine (A–Putea), București, p. 201
8. ^ a b Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. înnoda
9. ^ 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. 551
10. ^ 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. nod
11. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 778
12. ^ Pontbriant, Raoul de (1862), Dictiunaru romano-francesu, Bucuresci: A. Ulrich / Göttingen: Dieterich, p. 357