întinde

Forms

a întinde (present întind, past participle întins), third conjugation.^[1] Old texts also have the simple verb tinde: „Tinde mâna ta și prinde coada lui” “stretch out your hand and take it by the tail”.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin intendō (“to stretch out, extend”).^[3][4][5][1] The DA takes it from both tendō (“to stretch”) and the compound, which is formed from Latin in- + tendō.^[6][7] Wiktionary also allows that it was formed from Romanian în- + tinde, from the simple verb, which is its doublet.^[1][6]

Romanian kept the physical sense of the Latin verb, while in the other Romance languages it moved to “understand” and “hear”: Italian intendere, French entendre, Spanish entender.^[6][5] Aromanian ntindu is the Aromanian counterpart.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki of the early 16th century: întinseră in Psalm 10:2.^[8][2] The DA quotes a psalter's „întinseră arcele sale” “they bent their bows”: the first sense was to draw a string or bow tight.^[6]

Semantic evolution

From pulling something taut (a bow, a rope, the hammer of a gun) the verb came to mean stretching something out at length or in breadth: spreading a cloth, a tent, washing on a line, laying the table.^[6][2] Further senses are extending a domain (Negru-Vodă își întinse stăpânirea), holding out a hand, and, reflexively, stretching one's limbs or lying down.^[9][4] Set phrases include a întinde o cursă “to set a trap”, a întinde mâna “to beg”, and a o întinde “to make off”.^[4][3] In slang the verb has a sexual sense.^[10]

Timeline

• early 16th century – întinseră in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki.^[8]
• c. 1563–1583 – in the Codicele Voronețean, MDA2's first record.^[3]
• 1649 – întinde glossing Slavonic протѧзает in Mardarie's lexicon.^[11]
• 1688 – întinde 60 times in the Bucharest Bible.^[12]

Meanings

Verb

1. To stretch out or unfold something that was rolled or coiled by pulling one or both ends;^[4][3][1] a întinde o cursă “to set a trap”.^[4][3][1]
2. To lengthen an elastic object by pulling its ends.^[4]
3. To extend the arm or hand in a direction: îi întinse mâna “he held out his hand to him”.^[4][13]
4. (reflexive) To stretch one's body; to lie down at full length.^[4][13]
5. To spread something over a surface: to lay a cloth, to hang out washing, to set the table.^[2][4]
6. (reflexive, figurative) To spread, to extend in space or time.^[9]

Word family

• întindere
• întins

Related words

• extinde
• tinde

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. întinde
3. ^ a b c d e Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 1253
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 555
5. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 4483
6. ^ a b c d e 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. întinde
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
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 10:2
9. ^ a b Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 1, 336
10. ^ Volceanov, George (2007), Dicționar de argou al limbii române, București: Niculescu, p. s.v. întinde
11. ^ 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. întinde
12. ^ Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Facerea 3:22
13. ^ a b Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. întinde