adânc

Forms

adânc m or n (feminine singular adâncă, plural adânci)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin aduncus (“hooked, curved”).^[2][3][4][1] The Latin adjective is formed from ad- and uncus (“a hook; hooked”).^[1][5] The sense moved from “curved” to “hollow” and then to “deep”.^[6][7] Candrea and Densusianu compare Latin curvus, which could also mean “deep”, of a valley.^[8]

The vowel /ɨ/ is the problem.^[6] Pușcariu, the DA and the REW, followed by DELR, start from Vulgar Latin *adancus, a crossing of the attested adjective with Latin ancus, which Festus explains as “having a bent arm that cannot be stretched”.^[9][7][6] DELR finds the change of vowel hard to explain from the Latin adjective alone;^[8] Candrea and Densusianu put it first in the unstressed forms.^[6][8] Ciorănescu thinks this form unnecessary, since the attested Latin word would regularly give the Romanian one, as longo gave lângă;^[10][11][12] DELR answers that the vowel of the preposition comes from its unstressed use.^[3][6]

The word survives south of the Danube: Aromanian adãncu and the adverb Megleno-Romanian dăncă.^{[10][11][12][3]} Ciorănescu compares Spanish adunco “hooked”, and the REW a Corsican descendant.^[3][13]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR and Tiktin date the first record to the Slavonic–Romanian Gospel of 1551–1553, where the noun means “the depth”: „să-l nece într-adâncul mării” “that he be drowned in the depth of the sea” (Matthew 18:6).^[6][14] The place name Adâncata, formed on a derivative, is recorded as early as 1532.^[6]

Semantic evolution

The DA notes that adânc differs from afund: afund calls up the bottom far from the surface, adânc the distance itself, which suits it better for figurative use.^[7] So the word spread from water and pits to anything that goes far in or far down: a forest that is hard to get through, a deep sigh, a low bow, a low voice, a dark colour.^[4][2] Figuratively it means “intense” of feelings and “thorough, profound” of thought: Tiktin quotes învățături dumnedzăiești foarte adânci “divine teachings of very deep meaning”.^[14][4] Adânci bătrânețe is “a great old age”.^[14][4]

The noun adânc “depth, abyss” is as old as the adjective; the old verb adânca “to deepen” was replaced by adânci.^[14][3][6]

Timeline

• 1551–1553 – adâncul “the depth” in the Slavonic–Romanian Gospel.^[6][14]
• 1551–1558 – the verb adânca in the Psaltirea Voronețeană.^[6]
• 1559–1560 – adâncătură “hollow” in the Codex Bratul.^[6]
• 1589 – adâncul in Coresi's psalter.^[15]
• first half of the 17th century – adâncime “depth” in the Teachings of Neagoe.^[6]
• c. 1660 – the verb adânci in a Chronograph.^[6]
• c. 1870 – adâncitură “hollow” in Eminescu.^[6]

Meanings

Adjective

1. deep: of water or a hollow, with its bottom far below the top or the surface.^[4][1]
2. Reaching or lying far inward or far off; dense, hard to get through: pădure adâncă “deep forest”.^[4]
3. Coming, or seeming to come, from deep inside; figuratively, strong, intense: un oftat adânc “a deep sigh”.^[4]
4. Of a bow: made by bending low.^[4]
5. Of a voice or tone: low, grave.^[4][2]
6. (figurative) Going to the essence of things; profound, thorough.^[4][1]
7. (figurative) Complete, total: o tăcere adâncă “a deep silence”.^[4]

Noun

1. The deep part, the depth; a place lying far inward.^[4]

Word family

• adânci
• adâncime
• adâncitură
• adâncătură
• adâncuț

Related words

• Aromanian adãncu
• Latin aduncus

Usage notes

Fixed phrases: până la adânci bătrânețe “to a great old age” and din adâncul sufletului “from the bottom of one's heart”.^[4]

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, 14
3. ^ a b c d e 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. adânc
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 12
5. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 71
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n 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. adânc
7. ^ a b c 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. adânc
8. ^ a b c Candrea, I.-A.; Densusianu, Ov. (1907–1914), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române: elementele latine (A–Putea), București, p. s.v. adânc
9. ^ Pușcariu, Sextil (1905), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der rumänischen Sprache I: Lateinisches Element, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 3
10. ^ a b Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 57
11. ^ a b Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net), p. 16
12. ^ a b Capidan, Theodor (1935), Meglenoromânii III: Dicționar meglenoromân, București: Academia Română, p. 103
13. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 210a
14. ^ 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. adânc
15. ^ 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 68:2