adesea

Forms

adesea (adverb); variants ades and adese.^[2]

Etymology

It is formed from Romanian a- + des (“thick; often”), as DEX and Wiktionary state.^[2][3][1] DELR traces the forms in more detail: adese comes from a phrase of a, dese and ori, “at frequent times”, as Pușcariu, Candrea–Densusianu and the DA hold, and the present form was made from it.^[4] Tiktin and Candrea–Densusianu explain the short ades as adeseori remade after the adjective.^[4]

The adjective is from Latin dēnsus (“thick, dense”), which also had the sense “frequent”, as spissus did.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The family is recorded from the mid-16th century: the Codex of Bratul (1559–1560) has adesu for Slavonic priležĭno “diligently, unceasingly”, and the Codicele Voronețean (c. 1563–1583) has ades “often”.^[4][3] The form adesea itself appears in Grigore Ureche's chronicle (1642–1647).^[4]

Semantic evolution

Old Romanian had a whole set of these adverbs: adese (1613, Varlaam), adeselea (1643), adeseori (about 1650) and, in the Banat and Transylvania, adesul, with an adverbial ending DELR takes from Hungarian.^[4] Adesea and adeseori are the ones in standard use;^[6][2] ades survives in poetry and adese regionally.^[6][2] Old texts also used the word as an adjective, “frequent”.^[3] After mai it means “mostly, usually”.^[6]

Timeline

• 1559–1560 – adesu in the Codex of Bratul.^[4]
• c. 1563–1583 – ades “often” in the Codicele Voronețean.^[4][3]
• 1613 – adese in Varlaam's Leastvița.^[4]
• 1642–1647 – adesea in Grigore Ureche's chronicle.^[4]
• 1643 – adeselea in Varlaam's Cazania.^[4]
• c. 1650 – adeseori and adesul.^[4]

Meanings

Adverb

1. often, many times, repeatedly;^[2][6][1] mai adesea “more often, mostly”.^[2][6][1]

Adjective

1. (obsolete) frequent.^[3]

Related words

• des
• adeseori
• deseori
• ori

Usage notes

Adeseori is a synonym;^[2][3] des is used in the same sense: Vine adesea pe la noi. “He often comes to see us.”^[2][3]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. 13
3. ^ a b c d e f g Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 15
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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. des
5. ^ 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. des
6. ^ a b c d e Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1, 23