întărire

Forms

întărire f (plural întăriri)^[1]

Etymology

It is the long infinitive of întări (“to strengthen”), formed from Romanian întări + -re, the suffix that turns verbs into nouns of action.^[1][2][3][4] The verb is a Romanian formation on în- and tare (“strong, hard”).^[3][1] The adjective continues Latin tālis (“such”), whose sense of “so great” shifted to “strong”.^[5][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is in Coresi's Omiliar of 1581.^[2] The sense “fortification” is attested in a book of teachings of 1642.^[2] In Mardarie's lexicon of 1649 and the later Slavonic–Romanian lexicons it glosses Slavonic words for “confirmation” and “hardening”.^[6] MDA2 dates the word from a psalter of 1651.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The noun follows the senses of the verb: hardening of a substance, the strengthening of a person or a power, the fortification of a place and, in the plural, the fortifications and the troops sent in support.^[3][7] In the old language it also meant the confirmation of a statement or of a ruling: the Lexicon of Buda (1825) gives “confirmation, proof” and “ratification” beside “strengthening” and “hardening”, and DEX keeps an obsolete sense “legalized deed”.^[8][4] The Bible of 1688 uses it often, also in the plural întăriri.^[9] Grammar took it into the term pronume de întărire, the emphatic pronoun.^[4]

Timeline

• 1581 – first record, in Coresi's Omiliar.^[2]
• 1642 – the sense “fortification”.^[2]
• 1649 – in Mardarie's Slavonic–Romanian lexicon.^[6]
• 1651 – in a psalter, MDA2's first record.^[3]
• 1688 – frequent in the Bucharest Bible, with the plural întăriri.^[9]
• 1825 – the Lexicon of Buda lists the senses “strengthening”, “proof”, “ratification” and “hardening”.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act of making or becoming harder or firmer; hardening, setting.^[3][7]
2. The strengthening of someone or something; consolidation of strength or power.^[4][7]
3. (military) The fortification of a position; in the plural, fortifications, and also reinforcements sent in support.^[3]
4. Confirmation or emphasis of what has been said;^[7][4] pronume de întărire: an emphatic pronoun, which stresses the noun or pronoun it goes with.^[7][4]
5. Recovery of one's strength after an illness.^[3]
6. (obsolete) A legalized deed.^[4]

Related words

• întări
• tare

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. întărire
3. ^ a b c d e f g h 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 d e f g DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 554
5. ^ 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. tare
6. ^ a b Ungureanu, Mădălina; Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Moruz, Alexandru (eds.), eRomLex: The First Romanian Bilingual Dictionaries (17th century), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. s.v. întărire
7. ^ a b c d e Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 2, 661
8. ^ a b Lesicon românescu-latinescu-ungurescu-nemțescu quare de mai mulți autori, în cursul a trideci și mai multor ani s-au lucrat (1825), Buda: Typographia Universității (the Lexicon of Buda, ed. Petru Maior et al.), p. 313
9. ^ a b Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. 1 Macc 12:45