învia

Forms

învia (third-person singular present învie or înviază, past participle înviat), first conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Romanian în- + vie (“to live”), the old verb that continued Latin vīvō (“to live”).^[2][3][4] The regular form, the old infinitive învie, is found in 16th- and 17th-century texts.^[2][3] Tiktin explains the move to the first conjugation by its present forms, which matched those of tăia.^[3] Ciorănescu compares a similar shift of scrie in the Banat.^[2] The old participle învis still lives in northern Transylvania.^[2]

The DA, following Pușcariu, derives the verb directly from Vulgar Latin *invīvō, built on vīvus (“alive”).^[5] Ciorănescu finds that hypothesis unnecessary.^[2] DEX analyses the verb as în and viu (“alive”).^[6] The Aromanian counterpart is anyedz.^[1][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first records are in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki of the early 16th century, with the forms învie (Psalm 1:5) and învii (Psalm 3:7).^[8] MDA2 dates the verb from the Codicele Voronețean (c. 1563–1583).^[4] The sense was rising from the dead; the Bucharest Bible of 1688 has „Nu vor învia necredincioșii la judecată” “the ungodly shall not rise in the judgment” (Psalm 1:5).^[3]

Semantic evolution

The religious sense of rising from the dead, and of raising the dead, is the core of the word.^[6][5] The Easter greeting Hristos a înviat!, answered Adevărat a înviat!, is used from Easter to Ascension.^[3] The DA notes that from the earliest times învia was the southern form and învie the northern and Moldavian one.^[5]

Figurative senses followed: plants coming back to life in spring, memories brought back to mind, and giving new strength or liveliness.^[6][4] The phrase murea și învia meant “to be beside oneself with joy”.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 1500-1520 – învie and învii in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki, the first record.^[8]
• c. 1563-1583 – the Codicele Voronețean.^[4]
• 1574 – va înviia “will live again” in a Gospel book.^[5]
• 1580 – Coresi's Gospel book uses the transitive verb, “to make alive”.^[3]
• 1642 – a transitive use in Silvestru's text.^[5]
• 1688 – învia in the Bucharest Bible.^[3][9]
• 1801 – Klein's dictionary glosses inviez with Latin resurgo.^[10]

Meanings

Verb

1. To come back to life after death, or to bring back to life; to resurrect.^[6][4][1]
2. (figurative) To come or bring back to mind, to revive in memory.^[6][4]
3. (of vegetation) To come back to life after winter, to start growing again.^[6][4]
4. (figurative) To give or gain strength, to fill with life; to enliven.^[6][4]

Word family

• învietor
• înviere

Related words

• viu
• Aromanian anyedz

Usage notes

The present has two forms, învii / învie and înviez / înviază.^[6][1] Old texts have the infinitive învie, the perfect înviș or învisei and the participle învis.^[4][3]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. învia
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. învia
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 1269
5. ^ 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. învia
6. ^ a b c d e f g h DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 561
7. ^ Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net), p. 84
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 1:5
9. ^ Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Ps 1:5
10. ^ Gáldi, László (ed.) (1944), Samuel Klein: Dictionarium valachico-latinum. Primul dicționar al limbii române, Budapest: Királyi Magyar Pázmány Péter Tudományegyetemi Román Intézet (Klein's dictionary of 1801, with Gáldi's etymological study), p. 385