așeza

Forms

așeza (third-person singular present așază, past participle așezat, third-person subjunctive așeze) 1st conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *assediō (“to seat”), a verb of spoken Latin not recorded in texts.^{[2][3][4][1][5]} It was formed on sedeō (“to sit”), probably through a noun *sedium or *sedia “seat, place to sit”, the source of Italian seggio and seggia.^[2][6] The REW finds the formation unclear, since such a noun is regular but not securely attested, and it rejects Storm's *assedō, which does not fit the Romanian /z/.^[5] DELR explains the word as one of several new verbs that replaced Classical assīdō (“to sit down”) in popular Latin: *assedeō gave French asseoir, and *asseditō gave Italian assettare.^[2]

It survives in Aromanian as ashedz.^[7][8][1] Outside Romanian the same verb gave Spanish asear and Portuguese aseiar.^[2][5] The neologism asedia “to besiege” is its etymological doublet.^[3][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Codicele Voronețean (c. 1563–1583), leaf 56r.^[2][9] MDA2 cites Grigore Ureche's chronicle as its first source.^[4] DELR gives as its earliest sense placing on something or somewhere so as to sit.^[2]

Semantic evolution

From seating someone the verb came to mean settling people in a place: Cantemir wrote that Trajan removed the Dacians „și pre romanii săi în locul lor au așezat” “and settled his Romans in their place”.^[9] It then meant arranging and ordering, and in the old language deciding, decreeing and fixing a tax.^[2][10] Ciorănescu notes that these secondary senses follow those of Spanish asear and French asseoir.^[3] The reflexive also came to describe liquids that clear and people who calm down.^[2][4]

The noun așezământ, recorded from 1682, took its sense “institution” from French établissement and its sense “assessment of taxes” from French assiette.^[2] Transylvanian Saxon borrowed the verb as aschezân.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 1563–1583 – in the Codicele Voronețean, the first record.^[2][9]
• 1582 – așezătură “arrangement, agreement” in the Palia de la Orăștie.^[2]
• 1620 – așezător “inhabitant; founder”.^[2]
• 1642–1647 – neașezare “disorder, revolt” in Ureche's chronicle.^[2]
• 1682 – așezământ in Dosoftei.^[2]
• 1705 – neașezământ “conflict” in Cantemir.^[2]
• 1804 – așezământar, an official who fixed taxes.^[2]
• 1846 – reașeza “to put back in place”.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. (reflexive and transitive) To sit down; to seat someone: Musafirii s-au așezat la masă. A se așeza în pat is to lie down, a se așeza la lucru to set to work.^[10][4][1]
2. (reflexive) To stop for a rest; of birds and insects, to alight.^[10][4]
3. (reflexive) To settle in a layer; of fermenting liquids, to clear;^[10][4] (figurative) to calm down.^[10][4]
4. (reflexive) To settle in a town or place.^[10][1]
5. To put in order, to arrange; to place or stack.^[10][1]
6. (popular, intransitive) To plan, to arrange beforehand.^[10]
7. (rare) To present a fact in a certain light;^[10] (obsolete) to decree, to establish.^[10]
8. To set someone up in life; to install someone in a post.^[10]

Word family

• așezat
• așezământ
• așezământar
• așezător
• așezătură
• neașezare
• reașeza
• așezare

Related words

• ședea
• asedia
• Aromanian ashedz

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2011–), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române (DELR), vol. I: A–B (2011), vol. II: C (2015–2018), București: Editura Academiei Române; continued online at delr.lingv.ro, p. s.v. așeza
3. ^ a b c d 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. așeza
4. ^ a b c d e f g Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 118
5. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 721
6. ^ a b 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. așeza
7. ^ Pascu, Giorge (1925), Dictionnaire étymologique macédoroumain, 2 vols. (I: Les éléments latins et romans; II: Les éléments grecs, turcs, slaves, albanais, germaniques, magyars, néologismes, créations immédiates, obscurs), Iași: Cultura Națională
8. ^ Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net), p. 145
9. ^ a b c Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. așezá
10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 70