întreba

Forms

a întreba (third-person singular present întreabă, past participle întrebat, third-person subjunctive întrebe), 1st conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin interrogō (“to ask, question”), itself formed from inter- and rogō (“to ask”).^[2][3][4][1] The same change of /g/ to /b/ is seen in limbă from lingua.^[2] Because only /gw/ was thought able to give /b/, Meyer-Lübke and Rosetti posited Vulgar Latin *interguāre;^[2] Ciorănescu thinks the assumption unfounded.^[2] Wiktionary gives the Vulgar Latin form as *intreguāre and the DEX as *interroguāre.^[1][5]

The word survives in all four branches: Aromanian ntreb, Megleno-Romanian antreb and Istro-Romanian ăntreb.^[2][6][7] Ciorănescu compares Old French anterver, Occitan antervar and Asturian entrugar.^[2] Romanian later borrowed the same Latin verb as the neologism interoga, a doublet of this word.^[2][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The verb is in the oldest Romanian psalters: the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki of the early 16th century has the imperative întrebaţi “ask” in Psalm 121:6.^[8] MDA2 gives the Codicele Voronețean (c. 1563–1583) as its first record, and Tiktin the Psaltirea Scheiană.^[3][9] The Psaltirea Scheiană also has „Întreabă părintele tău și spune-va ție” “ask your father and he will tell you”.^[4]

Semantic evolution

From the first texts the verb means “to ask a question” and “to ask after, enquire about”: the old chroniclers write a întreba de sfat “to ask for advice” and a întreba de vești “to ask for news”.^[9] The old language also had legal and reflexive uses that have since faded: a-și întreba județul or a se întreba cu cineva “to go to law with someone”, and a se întreba “to consult one another; to settle accounts with someone”.^[3][4] Modern Romanian added the school sense “to examine a pupil orally”.^[5]

The 17th-century Slavonic–Romanian lexicons gloss the verb with Slavonic words for “question, examine, seek”.^[10] Its derivatives are întrebare “question” and the old întrebăciune “enquiry”.^[2]

Timeline

• early 16th century – întrebaţi “ask!” in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki, the first record.^[8]
• c. 1563–1583 – in the Codicele Voronețean.^[3]
• 1573–1578 – in the Psaltirea Scheiană.^[9]
• 1649 – Mardarie's Slavonic–Romanian lexicon glosses întreb “I ask, examine”.^[10]
• 1688 – the Bucharest Bible uses the verb more than 170 times.^[11]

Meanings

Verb

1. To ask, question: to put a question to someone in order to get an answer; reflexive, to ask oneself, to wonder.^[5][1]
2. With de or despre, to ask after or enquire about someone or something: a întreba de sănătate “to ask after someone's health”.^[5][3]
3. To examine a pupil or student orally.^[5]
4. Reflexive, in the old language, to consult with someone; to go to law with someone.^[3]

Word family

• întrebător
• întrebare
• întrebăciune

Related words

• interoga
• Aromanian ntreb
• Latin interrogō

Usage notes

The saying întreabă-mă să te întreb “ask me and I'll ask you” answers someone who wants information that the speaker does not have either.^[5][9]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. întreba
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, 1257
4. ^ a b c 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. întreba
5. ^ a b c d e f DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 556
6. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 783
7. ^ Capidan, Theodor (1935), Meglenoromânii III: Dicționar meglenoromân, București: Academia Română, p. 21
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 121:6
9. ^ 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. întreba
10. ^ 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. întreb
11. ^ Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Gn 32:17