întoarce

Forms

întoarce (third-person singular present întoarce, past participle întors, third-person subjunctive întoarcă) 3rd conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin intorqueō (“to twist, turn round”),^[2][3][4][5] through a Vulgar Latin form *intorcō with the stem of *torcō,^[1] from torqueō (“to twist, turn”).^[1][4] Ciorănescu allows that it may also be formed from Romanian în- + toarce.^[4] The simple verb survives as toarce “to spin”, a weaving term; in the other senses the Latin prefixed verb replaced it.^[3] The DA notes that Latin, like Romanian, used the verb for turning one's eyes.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The psalter index finds întoarce 25 times in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki, of the early 16th century, and in all the later psalters.^[6] Tiktin quotes it from the Psaltirea Scheiană (Psalm 12:1) and MDA2 from the Codicele Voronețean.^[7][2]

Semantic evolution

The first sense was physical: “to turn round, to twist”, as of a spit or a key.^[3][2] From it came “to turn back, to return” and “to give back, to return (something)”, and figuratively “to change someone's mind”, “to convert” and, in the old language, “to translate”.^[8][7][4] The sense “to castrate (an animal)”, the DA notes, keeps the Latin meaning “twist inwards”.^[3] A clock is wound with a întoarce ceasul, and a worn coat is turned inside out with a întoarce haina.^[8][7] In Transylvania întorcătură named the first visit of a newly married couple to the parents.^[4][3]

Timeline

• early 16th century – frequent in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki.^[6]
• c. 1563–1583 – in the Codicele Voronețean.^[2]
• c. 1573–1578 – in the Psaltirea Scheiană.^[7][6]

Meanings

Verb

1. (reflexive and transitive) To return, to come or bring back to where one started; to turn in another direction: S-a întors acasă după zece ani.^[8][1]
2. (popular) To change one's mind or make someone change it; to take back a promise.^[8]
3. (popular) To change into something else;^[8] (dated) to translate.^[8]
4. To turn, to twist, to rotate; to wind a clock.^[8][1]
5. To turn over or inside out; to turn the pages of a book.^[8]
6. To give back, to restore.^[8][1]
7. (popular) To castrate an animal.^[8]

Word family

• întoarcere
• întors
• întorsătură

Related words

• toarce
• stoarce
• întort
• întortochea
• Latin intorqueō

Usage notes

Set phrases: a întoarce spatele cuiva “to turn one's back on someone”;^[8] a întoarce casa pe dos “to turn the house upside down”;^[8] a întoarce foaia “to change one's attitude”.^[8]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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, 1254
3. ^ a b c d e f 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. întoarce
4. ^ a b c d e 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. toarce
5. ^ Graur, Alexandru (1980), Cuvinte înrudite, București: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică, p. 100
6. ^ a b c 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 6:3
7. ^ 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. întoárce
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 556