însoți

Forms

însoți (third-person singular present însoțește, past participle însoțit) 4th conjugation^[1] Klein's dictionary of 1801 spells the first person Infotzéfc, that is însoțesc, and glosses it with Latin socio, adsocio.^[2]

Etymology

It is formed from Romanian în- + soț, with the verb ending -i.^[3][4][5][1] Tiktin and Ciorănescu list it under the noun.^[6][7] The noun soț “companion, partner; husband” is inherited from Latin socius (“companion, partner”).^[7]

The DA notes that in the modern literary language the verb often renders the neologism acompania.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record dates from 1581, in the sense “to make someone a partner in something, let him share”.^[6] The past însoțiră “they joined” is in Coresi's psalter of 1589.^[8] MDA2's first record is Dosoftei's lives of the saints (1682–1686), which Tiktin quotes for the same sense: „Însoțeaște-ne și pre noi la comoara ce ai aflat” “make us too partners in the treasure you have found”.^[4][6]

Semantic evolution

From the sense of making someone a partner the verb took two old reflexive uses: to associate with someone, as in the proverb Spune-mi cu cine te însoțești, ca să-ți spun cine ești “tell me who you keep company with and I'll tell you who you are”, and to be joined in marriage.^[6][9] The DA quotes a chronicle for a marriage between Moldavians and Gypsies „prin cununii” “by weddings”, and Ispirescu's tales for a girl who marries.^[5] Of animals, the reflexive means “to pair”.^[4][3]

The sense now most common, “to accompany someone on the way”, Tiktin first finds in Laurian and Massim's dictionary; he contrasts it with a petrece “to see someone part of the way”.^[6] The DA quotes it from Negruzzi, Bălcescu, Alecsandri and Eminescu, also in the senses “to escort” and, figuratively, “to go with, attend”.^[5] From it came “to accompany on an instrument” and “to add something to complete or explain”, as in Odobescu, who spoke of names accompanied by a hail of Latin quotations.^[5][3]

Timeline

• 1581 – first record, “to make someone a partner”.^[6]
• 1589 – însoțiră in Coresi's psalter.^[8]
• 1682–1686 – însoțeaște-ne “make us partners” in Dosoftei's lives of the saints.^[4][6]
• 1688 – însoți and însoțit in the Bucharest Bible.^[10]
• 1801 – însoțesc “I associate” in Klein's dictionary.^[2]
• 1871 – “to accompany on the way” in Laurian and Massim's dictionary.^[6]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To accompany, go along with someone on a walk or journey.^[3][4][1]
2. (transitive) To escort.^[11][5]
3. (transitive, rare) To accompany someone on an instrument.^[3][4]
4. (reflexive, popular) To keep company, associate with someone.^[3][4]
5. (transitive) To add something to complete or explain: își însoțește vorbele cu gesturi “he accompanies his words with gestures”.^[3][4]
6. (reflexive, popular) To marry; of animals, to pair, mate.^[3][4]

Word family

• însoțire
• însoțitor

Related words

• soț
• soție
• întovărăși

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b 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. 382
3. ^ a b c d e f g h DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 553
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 1247
5. ^ 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. însoți
6. ^ 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. însoți
7. ^ 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. soț
8. ^ 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 105:28
9. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 2, 656
10. ^ Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Acts 17:4
11. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. însoți