adâncime

Forms

adâncime f (plural adâncimi)^[1] From 1953 to 1993 it was spelled adîncime.^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Romanian adânc (“deep”) + -ime, an abstract noun from the adjective.^[2][3][4][1] Tiktin derives it from the verb adânci instead.^[5] The adjective is from Latin aduncus (“hooked, curved”).^[6][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR dates the first record to the first half of the 17th century, in the Romanian translation of the Teachings of Neagoe Basarab;^[7][5] Tiktin gives 1654 for the same text.^[7][5] MDA2 cites the Psalter of 1651, where „adâncime pre adâncime chiamă” renders the psalm verse “deep calleth unto deep”.^[4][2]

Semantic evolution

Hasdeu distinguished it from adânc: adânc is something very deep without a measure, adâncime the depth that can be measured.^[8] Most often the depth is pictured from top to bottom, and geometry made it a technical term for one of the three dimensions of a body.^[2] It can also run horizontally, as in Odobescu's echo answering from all the depths of the forest, and so it came to mean a hidden, far-off place.^[2][9]

Figurative senses are old: Văcărescu and Conachi speak of depth of mind and wisdom.^[2] DEX adds the sense “intensity, strength”, as of a feeling.^[3]

Timeline

• 1600–1650 – first record, in the Romanian translation of the Teachings of Neagoe Basarab.^[7]
• 1651 – in the Psalter: „adâncime pre adâncime chiamă”.^[4][2]
• 1688 – in the Bucharest Bible, for example Romans 11:33.^[10]
• 1794 – „într-adâncimele adâncurilor” in Critil și Andronius.^[8]
• 1801 – Klein's dictionary glosses it Hungarian mélység.^[11]
• 1825 – the Lexicon of Buda gives Latin altitudo, profunditas and German die Tiefe.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. depth, the fact of being deep; the distance from the surface or mouth of a hollow or of a body of water to its bottom: un lac cu o adâncime de zece metri.^[3][4][1]
2. (concrete) A deep or hollowed part; a hidden, remote place; the depths.^[3][9]
3. (figurative) Strength, intensity, profundity: un sentiment de o mare adâncime.^[3][1]
4. (obsolete, geometry) Height.^[4]

Related words

• adânc
• adânci

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f 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. adâncime
3. ^ a b c d e DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 12
4. ^ a b c d e Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 15
5. ^ a b c Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. adâncime
6. ^ 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
7. ^ a b c 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
8. ^ a b Hasdeu, B. P. (1886–1898), Etymologicum Magnum Romaniae: dicționarul limbei istorice și poporane a românilor, 4 vols. (A–Bărbat), București: Socec, p. s.v. adîncime
9. ^ a b Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1, 27
10. ^ Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Romans 11:33
11. ^ Gáldi, László (ed.) (1944), Samuel Klein: Dictionarium valachico-latinum. Primul dicționar al limbii române, Budapest: Királyi Magyar Pázmány Péter Tudományegyetemi Román Intézet (Klein's dictionary of 1801, with Gáldi's etymological study), p. 296
12. ^ Lesicon românescu-latinescu-ungurescu-nemțescu quare de mai mulți autori, în cursul a trideci și mai multor ani s-au lucrat (1825), Buda: Typographia Universității (the Lexicon of Buda, ed. Petru Maior et al.), p. 6