întârzia

Forms

întârzia (third-person singular present întârzie, past participle întârziat), 1st conjugation^[1] Old and regional present forms are întârziez and întârziu.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from Romanian în- + târziu, with the verb ending -a.^[2][4][5][1] Ciorănescu lists it among the derivatives of târziu, which goes back to Late Latin tardīvus (“late”).^[6][1] CADE traced the verb instead to an unattested Vulgar Latin *intardīvō.^[3] The same formation is found in Aromanian ntãrdedz, made with the suffix -edz.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

MDA2 dates the first record to 1639, in a Paraclis printed in Gaster's chrestomathy;^[2][5][7] DA and Tiktin date the same passage to a manuscript of 1661.^[2][5][7] There it means “to come late”: „să nu să spaie, pentru căci au întârziat” “let him not be afraid because he has come late”.^[5][7] Tiktin's earliest date is 1642.^[7]

Semantic evolution

The intransitive sense “to come late, to be late” is the oldest; the transitive “to hold someone up, to delay something” is in the Moldavian law code and in the Bible of 1688: „Ca să nu întârzieze zidirea casei Domnului” “so that the building of the Lord's house should not be delayed”.^[7] Further senses are “to linger, to stay longer than needed” and “to hesitate”.^[2][4] Of clocks it means “to run slow”, a use recorded by Damé and Șăineanu.^[8][9]

Timeline

• 1639 – întârziat “come late” in a Paraclis, the first record in MDA2.^[2]
• 1642 – Tiktin's first record.^[7]
• 1688 – six times in the Bucharest Bible, also in the transitive sense “to delay”.^[10][7]
• 1893 – ceasornicul întârzie “the clock is slow” in Damé's dictionary.^[8]

Meanings

Verb

1. (intransitive) To be late, to arrive after the expected or needed time.^[4][2][1]
2. (intransitive) To do something, or to happen, after the usual or fixed time;^[4][2][1] (transitive) to delay someone or something.^[4][2][1]
3. (intransitive) To linger, to stay somewhere longer than needed.^[4][2][1]
4. (intransitive, of clocks) To run slow.^[2][9]

Word family

• întârziere

Related words

• târziu
• Aromanian ntãrdedz

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 1252
3. ^ a b Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. întîrzia
4. ^ a b c d e f DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 555
5. ^ a b c d 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. întârzia
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. tîrziu
7. ^ a b c d e f g Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. întârzia
8. ^ a b Damé, Frédéric (1893–1895), Nouveau dictionnaire roumain-français, 4 vols., Bucarest: Imprimerie de l'État, p. s.v. întârzia
9. ^ a b Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 1, 334
10. ^ Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Numerile 9:13