înspre

Forms

înspre (+accusative)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Romanian în + spre, two prepositions of direction.^[2][3][4][1] Its counterpart for the direction “from” is dinspre, formed in the same way with din.^[4][5] The second element continues Latin super (“over, above”).^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is in Alecsandri's folk poetry of 1853: „Boierii ... pleca Înspre munți, la vânătoare” “the boyars set off towards the mountains to hunt”.^[4][7] MDA2 gives only the Academy dictionary of 1913 as its first record.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The first sense is spatial, the direction of a movement, often after verbs of motion or of looking.^[7] Writers of the later 19th century use it also of time, înspre noapte “towards night”, and of the course a state takes, mergea înspre bine “was getting better”.^[4]

Timeline

• 1853 – înspre munți “towards the mountains” in Alecsandri's folk poetry.^[4]
• 1893 – in Damé's Romanian–French dictionary, with French vers and du côté de.^[8]
• 1913 – in the Academy dictionary, the first record MDA2 gives.^[3]

Meanings

Preposition

1. (spatial) towards, to, in the direction of: A pornit înspre sat.^[2][9]
2. (temporal) around, close to a time: înspre seară “towards evening”.^[2][9]
3. (modal) towards a state or outcome: Lucrurile merg înspre bine.^[9][3]

Related words

• spre
• dinspre
• în

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 553
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, 1248
4. ^ 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. înspre
5. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. înspre
6. ^ 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. spre
7. ^ a b Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 2, 657
8. ^ Damé, Frédéric (1893–1895), Nouveau dictionnaire roumain-français, 4 vols., Bucarest: Imprimerie de l'État, p. s.v. înspre
9. ^ a b c Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. înspre