adăpost

Forms

adăpost n (plural adăposturi)^[1]

Etymology

It is probably inherited from Latin ad dēpos(i)tum (“to a safe place”), first used as an adverb, the view of Tiktin, Pușcariu, the DA, Ciorănescu and DELR.^[2][3][4] The Latin participle is from dēpōnō (“to put down, to put in safe keeping”).^[2] Tiktin cites Caesar for the sense “to put in safety”.^[4] The DA thinks the Latin phrase first gave an adverb of place, later used after the preposition la, which then became a noun.^[5]

Candrea proposed ad appos(i)tum, from appōnō (“to put beside”).^[2][3] Ciorănescu and DELR find it less likely for reasons of sense, while DEX gives both.^[2][3][6][1] Cihac and Hasdeu started from ad pos(i)tum.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Coresi's Evanghelie cu învățătură of 1581.^[2][4] The Coresi psalter of 1589 has adăpostul in Psalm 106:30, where God guides the seafarers to the haven they wished for.^[7] The 17th-century Slavonic–Romanian lexicons gloss it with words for “calm” and “haven”.^[8]

Semantic evolution

The old sense was a haven, a calm and safe place: Arsenie of Bisericani, in the 17th century, renders the same psalm verse întru adăpostul vrerii sale “into the haven of their wish”.^[5][9] The usual modern sense is shelter from bad weather or danger, and in military use an air-raid shelter.^[5][6] A fi la adăpost de “to be safe from” follows French à l'abri de.^[5]

The verb adăposti is recorded before the noun, from 1566, and Coresi has adăpostitură in 1581.^[2] In the Apuseni Mountains the form azăpost arose by contamination with zăpodie “place sheltered from the wind”.^[5]

Timeline

• 1566 – the verb adăposti in Coresi.^[2]
• 1581 – adăpost and adăpostitură in Coresi's Evanghelie cu învățătură, the first record of the noun.^[2][4]
• 1589 – adăpostul “the haven” in Coresi's psalter.^[7]
• 1639 – adăpostitor “sheltering”.^[2]
• 1643 – adăposteală in Varlaam's Cazania.^[2]
• 1649 – in Mardarie's Slavonic–Romanian lexicon, for “calm”.^[8]
• 1680 – the verb adăposta in Dosoftei.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A shelter: a protected place, or a building that protects from bad weather or danger; any place where one takes refuge.^[6][1]
2. (military) A bunker that protects from the enemy's weapons: adăpost antiaerian “air-raid shelter”.^[6][10]
3. protection, lodging: a găsi adăpost “to find shelter”.^[6][4]

Word family

• adăposta
• adăposteală
• adăposti
• adăpostitor
• adăpostitură
• adăpostire

Usage notes

A fi or a se pune la adăpost de means to be or get safe from something, and figuratively to guard against a trouble.^[6][10]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. adăpost
3. ^ a b c 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. adăpost
4. ^ 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. adăpost
5. ^ a b c d e 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. adăpost
6. ^ a b c d e f DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 12
7. ^ 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 106:30
8. ^ a b Ungureanu, Mădălina; Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Moruz, Alexandru (eds.), eRomLex: The First Romanian Bilingual Dictionaries (17th century), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. s.v. adăpost
9. ^ Hasdeu, B. P. (1886–1898), Etymologicum Magnum Romaniae: dicționarul limbei istorice și poporane a românilor, 4 vols. (A–Bărbat), București: Socec, p. s.v. adăpost
10. ^ a b Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. adăpost