adresa

Forms

adresa (third-person singular present adresează, past participle adresat), 1st conjugation^[1] In the early 19th century the verb was also made with the suffix -arisi: „S-au adresarisit ei cu întrebarea cătră tatăl lor” “they addressed the question to their father” (Drăghici).^[2] Another old variant is adresui: „Niște versuri tare frumoase, adresuite cătră Cecilia” “some very fine verses addressed to Cecilia” (Alecsandri).^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French adresser.^{[4][5][3][2][6][1]} DELR adds German adressieren as a second model, and takes the recent sense “to target, to deal with (a problem)” from English address.^[7] Ciorănescu lists the verb under the noun adresă, which is adresse, but takes the verb itself from the French verb.^[8]

The French verb is formed with a- on dresser (“to raise, to straighten”); it was first adrecier (early 12th century) and has been written in its present form since the early 15th century.^[9] That verb goes back to Vulgar Latin *dīrēctiāre, from Latin dīrēctus (“straight”), the past participle of dīrigō (“to direct”), a compound of regō (“to guide, to rule”).^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

MDA2, Tiktin and the DA cite a document of 1776 printed in the Uricariul collection, where the verb means “to direct (words) to”: „Vă exprim mulțămirile ce toți adresim cătră providența cerească” “I express to you the thanks that we all address to heavenly providence”.^[5][3][2] DELR dates the family later: the variant adresarisi to 1809, in a document, and adresa to 1829.^[7]

Semantic evolution

From addressing words or thanks to someone, the verb came to be used of letters and parcels: to send them to a person or place, and to write the address on them.^[2][5] Negulici's dictionary of neologisms of 1848 gives these senses: to send straight to a person or place, to address a letter, to address one's words to someone.^[10] The reflexive a se adresa “to turn to someone” is used of appeals to an authority: Negruzzi writes that people found nothing better than „să se adreseze la Poartă” “to apply to the Porte”.^[2] The early variants adresarisi, adresui and adresălui gave way to the form taken straight from French.^[3][7] A newer sense, “to target, to deal with (a problem)”, follows English usage.^[7]

Timeline

• 1776 – adresim “we address” in a document of the Uricariul collection.^[5][3][2]
• 1809 – the variant adresarisi in a document.^[7]
• 1829 – the form adresa.^[7]
• 1848 – in Negulici's dictionary of neologisms.^[10]
• 1969 – the derivative adresabil “addressable” in computing.^[7]

Meanings

Verb

1. (reflexive and transitive) To address (words) to someone; to speak to someone.^[4][5][1]
2. (reflexive and transitive) To turn to a person or institution with a request or an invitation; to appeal to.^[4][5][1]
3. (transitive) To send a letter, a request or a parcel to a particular person or adresă.^[5][6]
4. (transitive) To write the address on a letter or parcel.^[4][5]
5. (transitive, recent) To target or deal with (a problem).^[7]

Word family

• adresabil

Related words

• adresă
• adresant
• adresat
• French adresser

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g 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. adresa
3. ^ 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. adresa
4. ^ a b c d DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 15
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 18
6. ^ a b Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. adresa
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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. adresă
8. ^ 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. adresă
9. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ a b Negulici, I. D. (1848), Vocabular romînesc de toate vorbele streine întroduse pînă acum în limba romînească și de toate cuvintele ce s-ar mai putea introduce încă, București, p. s.v. adresa