ține

Forms

a ține (third-person singular present ține, past participle ținut, third-person subjunctive țină), 3rd conjugation^[1] The older infinitive is ținea, of the second conjugation, which survives beside ține; the verb passed into the third conjugation together with rămânea.^[2][3][4] A regional first person țiu occurs beside the standard țin.^[2][5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin teneō (“to hold, grasp”).^[3][2][6][1] The present infinitive was first ținea, the regular outcome of a verb of the Latin second conjugation; in Muntenia it went over to the third conjugation together with rămânea, giving the present form.^[4][1] The Latin verb goes back to Proto-Italic *tenēō, a stative formation from Proto-Indo-European *ten- (“to stretch, draw”).^[1][7]

The word survives in all four branches: Aromanian tsãn, Megleno-Romanian tsǫn and Istro-Romanian țir.^[3][1] The Romance cognates include Dalmatian tenar, Italian tenere, French tenir, Catalan tenir, Spanish tener and Portuguese ter.^[3][6] In Ibero-Romance and in much of Sardinian and southern Italian the Latin verb took over from habeō as the auxiliary of past tenses.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The verb appears in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki of the early 16th century, in Psalm 33:13 and 104:44.^[2][8] Tiktin's first date is Neacșu's letter of 1521.^[4] The first sense recorded is “to hold in one's hands”: a text from before 1550 speaks of a cross held in the hands.^[9]

Semantic evolution

From “to hold in the hand” the verb spread to almost every kind of holding and keeping: to support, to keep in a place or state, to restrain, to keep animals or a household, to keep a law or a promise, and intransitively to last or to stretch in a direction.^[3][10] Old texts also use it for “to possess, rule over”, and reflexively for “to live in concubinage”, whence țiitoare “concubine”.^[3] Tiktin marks a ține marea “to keep to the open sea” as a Gallicism.^[4]

The verb formed a large family: ținut “estate, province”, țiitor “lord, owner” and atotțiitor “almighty”, and ținută “bearing”, modelled on French tenue.^[3] The neologisms abține, conține, deține, menține, obține, reține and susține were formed on French models.^[3]

Timeline

• early 16th century – ţine in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki, the first record.^[8][2]
• 1521 – in Neacșu's letter.^[4]
• before 1550 – a cross held in the hands, in a text printed in Gaster's chrestomathy.^[9]
• 1570 – ținură, ținut and other forms in Coresi's psalter.^[11]
• 1649 – ținea in Mardarie's Slavonic–Romanian lexicon.^[12]

Meanings

Verb

1. To hold something in one's hand or arms and not let it fall or slip.^[10][1]
2. To keep someone or something in a place, position or state; to detain; to restrain a feeling.^[10]
3. To keep, preserve; to keep to a road or direction; to observe a rule, law or promise.^[10][1]
4. To hold or organise an event, such as a meeting or a speech.^[3][1]
5. Intransitive, to last, endure; of a road or area, to stretch.^[10]
6. With de, to belong to or depend on; with la, to be fond of, to value; followed by a subjunctive, to insist on doing something.^[10][1]
7. Reflexive, to hold on to something; with de or după, to follow someone about.^[10][1]
8. Informal, intransitive, with cu, to support a side in a contest.^[1]

Word family

• țiitor
• ținut
• țiitoare
• ținută
• atotțiitor

Related words

• aține
• conține
• deține
• întreține
• menține
• reține
• susține
• Aromanian tsãn
• Latin teneō

Usage notes

Many set phrases use the verb: a ține minte “to remember”, a ține cont “to take into account”, a ține pasul “to keep up”, and a-i ține cuiva lumânarea “to be someone's best man or godparent at a wedding”.^[10][1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. 2, 1338
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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. ținea
4. ^ 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. ține
5. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 4, 540
6. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 8646
7. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
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 33:13
9. ^ a b Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. ține
10. ^ 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. 1162
11. ^ 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 16:11
12. ^ 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. ținea