acum

Forms

acum^[1] Variants: acuma, popular acu, acmu, and the regional acru and acruma.^[2][3] Banat has acnu and acrum, and the regional amu is widespread.^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *eccum modo, a compound of the deictic particle eccum (“here he is”) and modo (“just, only; now”).^[3][4][5][1] The Latin adverb is the shortened ablative of modus (“measure, manner”), first “by measure, exactly”, then “only” and “just now”; in speech it lost its /d/ and became ⟨*mo⟩, as in quomodo, the source of cum.^[3] DELR explains the two stresses of the Latin compound: ⟨eccúmmo(do)⟩ gave ⟨acum⟩, while ⟨eccummó(do)⟩ gave the ⟨acmo⟩ and ⟨amo⟩ of the dialects south of the Danube.^[3] Candrea and Densusianu derive every Romanian form from the same compound through ⟨acmu⟩, with the stress moved under the influence of the Latin word for “how”.^[4]

Ciorănescu sees a different path for the short form: ⟨acu⟩ would continue *eccum hūc, and ⟨acum⟩ a longer compound with the same parts and the adverb for “now”.^[4][3] DELR also records the view that ⟨acu⟩ is simply ⟨acum⟩ worn down in speech.^[3]

The adverb survives in all four branches: Aromanian amu, Megleno-Romanian cmo and Istro-Romanian acmo.^[3][4][6][7] The Latin adverb lives on in Italian mo, Dalmatian mut and Sardinian immoi, and the compound with the particle also in Sardinian komo.^[3][8][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is the variant acmu “now, at present” in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki of the early 16th century.^[3] Tiktin dates acum to the Codicele Voronețean of the same century.^[9] Coresi's psalter of 1589 has it at Psalm 19:6.^[10]

Semantic evolution

The basic sense, “now, at this moment”, has stayed the same since the first texts.^[3][9] From it came “at once, immediately” and, before a measure of time, “ago”: acum doi ani “two years ago”.^[5][4] The phrase acu-i acu means that the decisive moment has come.^[5][9]

Romanian built a small family on the adverb: acuși “at once”, with the particle -și also seen in același “the same”, is recorded from 1562–1571, acuma from 1612 and the diminutive acușica from 1838.^[3][4]

Timeline

• c. 1500–1520 – acmu in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki, the first record.^[3]
• 1562–1571 – acuși “at once”, with the old variant acmuși.^[3]
• 16th century – acum in the Codicele Voronețean.^[9]
• 1589 – acum in Coresi's psalter, Psalm 19:6.^[10]
• 1612 – the variant acuma.^[3]
• c. 1650–1700 – acum in the Latin–Romanian glossary of Caransebeș.^[2]
• 1838 – the diminutive acușica.^[3]

Meanings

Adverb

1. now, at present, at this moment; in the present circumstances: Acum lucrez la o carte nouă.^[5][1]
2. At once, immediately: Vin acum!^[5][2]
3. Before an expression of time: ago: acum trei săptămâni “three weeks ago”.^[5][4][1]

Word family

• acuma
• acuși
• acușa
• acușica

Related words

• Aromanian amu
• Latin eccum
• Latin modo

Usage notes

The expression acu-i acu means “now is the moment”, “this is the decisive point”.^[5][9] Acuma and colloquial acu are variants of the same adverb.^[5]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 12
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p 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. acum
4. ^ a b c d e f g 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. acum
5. ^ 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. 11
6. ^ Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net), p. 61
7. ^ Kovačec, August (1998), Istrorumunjsko-hrvatski rječnik (s gramatikom i tekstovima), Pula
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 5630
9. ^ 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. acum
10. ^ 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 19:6