întâlni

Forms

întâlni (third-person singular present întâlnește, past participle întâlnit) 4th conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Romanian în- + tâlni, the base being the old verb “to meet”, from Hungarian talál (“to find, to meet”), taken through the infinitive találni as other verbs of Hungarian origin were.^{[2][3][4][1][5]} Ciorănescu follows Cihac, Tiktin and Gáldi here, but finds the formation irregular: the regular result would have repeated the syllable /tă/, and he thinks one was lost by dissimilation.^[2] He compares the rare tătălui (“to meet, to gather”) of Transylvania, from the same Hungarian verb.^[2] Drăganu and the Academy dictionary explained the word instead through talán (“perhaps”), a view Ciorănescu calls inadmissible.^[2]

The Hungarian verb is recorded from about 1490.^[6] Zaicz traces it to an inherited Uralic stem meaning “to come” with a frequentative suffix, and compares Finnish tulla (“to come”).^[7]

Wiktionary suggests that the word displaced an inherited verb from Latin obviō (“to meet”), which survives in Megleno-Romanian nuib and Istro-Romanian ăniurbå.^[1][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Palia de la Orăștie of 1581–1582, in the story of Jacob (Genesis 32:19), with the sense “to meet”.^[9][3] The simple verb tâlni “to meet” is in the same text.^[4]

Semantic evolution

From “to meet someone on the way” the verb came to mean “to meet by arrangement”, “to find, come across” and, in geometry, “to touch, to intersect”.^[10][3] The old simple verb lasted into the 18th century: Neculce writes „să se tâlnească cu Vezirul în Țara Ungurească” “to meet the Vizier in Hungary”.^[9] In old texts the reflexive meant “to happen”, and in Maramureș “to befall someone”.^[3][2] Sport added “to face an opponent”.^[10]

Folk medicine used several derivatives: apă întâlnită is water taken where two springs meet, and întâlnitură is a paralysis put down to meeting evil spirits.^[2] The proverb Munte cu munte se întâlnește, dar om cu om says that people, unlike mountains, are bound to meet again.^[9]

Timeline

• c. 1490 – Hungarian talál “to come upon, meet” first recorded.^[6]
• 1581–1582 – întâlni and tâlni “to meet” in the Palia de la Orăștie, the first record.^[9][3][4]
• 1688 – in the Bucharest Bible, at Genesis 32:17.^[11]
• c. 1743 – tâlni still used by Neculce.^[9]
• 1801 – întâlnesc glossed by Latin convenio in Klein's dictionary.^[12]

Meanings

Verb

1. To meet or come upon someone or something by chance, to cross someone's path; of lines, to touch or intersect: L-am întâlnit pe stradă.^[10][3]
2. (reflexive, reciprocal) To meet by arrangement: Ne întâlnim la gară.^[10]
3. To find, to discover, to come across, to experience: N-am întâlnit asemenea om.^[10]
4. To be found, to occur: Cuvântul se întâlnește în textele vechi.^[10]
5. In sport, to face an opponent.^[10]

Word family

• întâlnire
• întâlnit
• întâlnitor
• întâlnitură

Related words

• tâlni
• Hungarian talál

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f 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. întâlni
3. ^ a b c d e f Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 1251
4. ^ a b c Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 1178
5. ^ Tamás, Lajos (1966), Etymologisch-historisches Wörterbuch der ungarischen Elemente im Rumänischen, Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, p. 471
6. ^ a b Benkő, Loránd (ed.) (1967–1976), A magyar nyelv történeti-etimológiai szótára, 3 vols., Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, p. 3, 827
7. ^ Zaicz, Gábor (ed.) (2006), Etimológiai szótár: magyar szavak és toldalékok eredete, Budapest: Tinta Könyvkiadó
8. ^ Kovačec, August (1998), Istrorumunjsko-hrvatski rječnik (s gramatikom i tekstovima), Pula, p. s.v. âniurbå
9. ^ 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. întâlni
10. ^ 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. 555
11. ^ Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Facerea 32:17
12. ^ 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. 383