abandona

Forms

abandona (third-person singular present abandonează, past participle abandonat) 1st conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French abandonner, a 19th-century neologism.^[2][3][1] MDA2 adds Italian abbandonare as a second source.^[4]

The French verb was formed on the phrase Old French a bandon “at the disposal of, in the power of”.^[2] DELR, following the TLFi, explains bandon “legal power, authority” as probably a blend of Frankish *bann “proclamation, command” with Proto-Germanic *band- (“sign, banner”);^[2] Wiktionary takes the French verb from a ban doner (“to give up to the ban”), with the Frankish word.^[1] The Italian verb is itself borrowed from Old French.^[5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR's first record is from 1842–1844, with the senses “to leave someone; to give something up”.^[2] Tiktin dates the verb to 1847.^[7] Negulici's dictionary of the new words of 1848 has it under the infinitive abandonare, glossed “to leave entirely, to give up something, to leave at someone's mercy”, with both the present abandon and abandonez.^[8]

Semantic evolution

The present abandon, which Negulici still gives beside abandonez, did not last: the CADE of 1931 has both, and the modern verb conjugates with -ez only.^[8][9][3] Beside the general sense, the verb took on a legal one, leaving without support people one must provide for, such as one's children,^[4][10] and a sporting one, withdrawing from a race or a contest.^[11][3] The reflexive a se abandona “to give oneself up to a feeling” is recorded by the later dictionaries.^[3][12]

The noun abandon was borrowed from abandon at the same time, in 1842.^[2]

Timeline

• 1842 – the noun abandon in Asachi.^[2]
• 1842–1844 – abandona “to leave; to give up”, the first record.^[2]
• 1847 – Tiktin's first record.^[7]
• 1848 – abandonare in Negulici's dictionary of neologisms.^[8]
• 1904 – MDA2's first record, in a manual of commercial correspondence.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To abandon, to leave someone without support or help; to give something up: a abandonat ideea.^[3][4]
2. (law) To leave without support those one is legally bound to provide for.^[4][10]
3. (reflexive, figurative) To give oneself up too much to a feeling, an emotion or a pursuit.^[3]
4. (transitive and intransitive, sport) To withdraw from a race or a contest before its end.^[3][4]

Related words

• abandon
• French abandonner

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g 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. abandona
3. ^ a b c d e f g DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1
4. ^ a b c d e f Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 1
5. ^ Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
6. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. abandona
8. ^ a b c Negulici, I. D. (1848), Vocabular romînesc de toate vorbele streine întroduse pînă acum în limba romînească și de toate cuvintele ce s-ar mai putea introduce încă, București, p. s.v. abandonare
9. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. abandona
10. ^ a b Dima, Eugenia (coord.) (2007), Dicționar explicativ ilustrat al limbii române, Chișinău: Arc / Gunivas, p. s.v. abandona
11. ^ Academia Republicii Populare Romîne (1958), Dicționarul limbii romîne moderne, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1
12. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. abandona