ațipi

Forms

ațipi (third-person singular present ațipește, past participle ațipit) 4th conjugation^[1]

Etymology

Ciorănescu, following Candrea and Rosetti, takes it as inherited from Vulgar Latin *adtepīre, formed on tepeō (“to be warm; to be languid”), perhaps blended with *adsopīre, the source of French assoupir and assouvir.^[2] DEX 2009, MDA2 and Wiktionary give the same Latin form.^[3][4][1] Candrea and Densusianu explain the ⟨ț⟩ by the stem-stressed forms ⟨*ațep⟩ and the /e/ > /i/ change by assimilation, and point to a present ⟨ațip⟩ in an old text.^[5]

Others leave the origin open: the DA calls it unknown, as do Șăineanu and Tiktin.^[6][7][8] Spitzer considered it the same word as țipa, of imitative origin, a view Scriban took up.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR and Tiktin date the first record to 1577, in Coresi's Slavonic–Romanian psalter (Psalm 3:5), with the sense “to fall into a light sleep”.^[9][8] MDA2 cites the Psaltirea Scheiană of about 1573–1578.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The verb has kept its sense, the beginning of sleep or a light, broken sleep.^[3][4] Old texts also use it reflexively and transitively: in Cantemir's Divanul one must take care not to fall asleep on hearing the voice of the sirens.^[8][4] Figuratively, worries and feelings can “doze off”: „Toate grijile-ațipesc” “all cares fall asleep”, when wine goes to the head.^[8] The verbal noun ațipeală “doze” is recorded from 1802–1803.^[9]

Timeline

• 1577 – in Coresi's Slavonic–Romanian psalter, the first record.^[9][8]
• c. 1660 – in the Slavonic–Romanian lexicon Lex.St.^[10]
• 1802–1803 – ațipeală “doze”.^[9]
• 1909 – ațipit, the verbal noun, in the DA.^[9]

Meanings

Verb

1. (intransitive) To doze off, to begin to fall asleep, to sleep lightly and briefly, aromi.^[3][4][1]
2. (intransitive) To be half asleep, to nap or sleep fitfully.^[4]
3. (transitive, dated) To make someone doze.^[4]

Word family

• ațipeală
• ațipit

Related words

• adormi

Usage notes

The present is ațipesc, rarely ațip.^[4]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b 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. ațipi
3. ^ a b c DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 73
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 127
5. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Densusianu, Ov. (1907–1914), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române: elementele latine (A–Putea), București
6. ^ 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. ațipi
7. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 1, 43
8. ^ 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. ațipi
9. ^ a b c d e 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. ațipi
10. ^ 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. ațipi