abține

Forms

abține (first-person singular present abțin, past participle abținut), third conjugation, used reflexively: a se abține.^[2][1] Older forms are absține, abstina and abținea.^[3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French s'abstenir, and at the same time borrowed from Latin abstineō (“to keep away, abstain”) as a learned Latin loan, with its conjugation made to follow ține “to hold”.^[3][2][4][1] DEX, DILF and Tiktin name only the French verb;^{[2][5][6][3][4][1]} DELR, Marcu and Wiktionary give both sources.^{[2][5][6][3][4][1]}

The Latin verb is formed from abs- (“away”) and teneō (“to hold”).^[3][7][1] French had borrowed it in the mid-11th century as the reflexive Old French astenir, remade in the early 14th century with the Latin prefix and with the ending of French tenir.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR's first record is from 1846, in a text by Laurian, under the variant absține; the sense is “to hold oneself back from something”.^[3] Tiktin's first date is 1860.^[6]

Semantic evolution

The verb entered with the 19th-century French and Latin vocabulary, at first in more than one shape: DELR lists the old forms abstina and abținea, and Tiktin notes that the latter is obsolete and that the verb is conjugated like ține.^[3][6] The political sense “not to vote” was there early: Tiktin gives a se abține de la vot “to abstain from voting”.^[6] Beside it the verb means to hold back from an action or a pleasure (smoking, drinking) and, more broadly, to keep out of an activity or not to state one's view.^[2][9][4]

The related nouns came from French and Latin separately: abstențiune in 1842 (Asachi, as abstenție), abstinent in 1859, abstenționist in 1885 and abstenționism in 1958.^[3] Abstinență is older, recorded in 1702 as obștinenție, a form DELR explains by the Hungarian pronunciation of Latin abstinentia.^[3]

Timeline

• 1846 – the variant absține “to hold oneself back” in Laurian.^[3]
• 1860 – Tiktin's first record of abține.^[6]
• 1885 – abstenționist “adherent of abstention”.^[3]
• 1893 – abține in the collected works of Iacob Negruzzi.^[10]
• 1958 – abstenționism, in a political dictionary.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. (reflexive) To refrain, to hold oneself back or restrain oneself from something;^[2][9][1] a se abține de la fumat “to refrain from smoking”.^[2][9][1]
2. (reflexive) To abstain: not to vote, not to give one's opinion, to keep out of an activity.^[2][10][1]
3. (reflexive) To do without certain things, such as food or drink.^[11][12]

Word family

• abstenționism
• abstențiune
• abstinență
• abținere
• abținut

Related words

• ține
• reține
• French abstenir

Usage notes

The verb is used only reflexively, a se abține, usually followed by de la “from”: S-a abținut de la vot. “He abstained from the vote.”^[9][6][1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. 4
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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. abține
4. ^ a b c d Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. abține
5. ^ a b Costăchescu, Adriana; Dincă, Daniela; Dragoste, Ramona; Popescu, Mihaela; Scurtu, Gabriela (2009–2010), Dicționar de împrumuturi lexicale din limba franceză (DILF), 2 vols., Craiova: Universitaria, p. 1
6. ^ a b c d e f g Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. abține
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ a b c d Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1, 7
10. ^ a b Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 4
11. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. abține
12. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. abține