afâna

Forms

afâna (third-person singular present afânează, past participle afânat), first conjugation^[1]

Etymology

Ciorănescu, DELR, DEX and MDA2 take it as inherited from Vulgar Latin *affēnō, from fēnum (“hay”): loosening is what is done to hay to dry it.^[2][3][4][5] DELR adds Hasdeu and Candrea–Densusianu for this view.^[3] Candrea and Densusianu compare Italian affienare (“to feed with hay”) and the Sardinian affenare; French faner comes from *fenō.^[6][1]

Tiktin, the DA, the REW and Scriban instead derive it within Romanian from fân.^[3][7] The DA compares the same French verb and Old French fener (“to dry hay; to wither”).^[8] Șăineanu explained it as “to make sparse like the hay of a rick”.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR's first record is the participle afânat in Anton Pann's Povestea vorbii of 1847, for a loosened, less compact material.^[3] Tiktin's first record is of 1853.^[7]

Semantic evolution

The verb is used of soil, snow and other granular or fibrous materials made looser by digging, crumbling or shaking; its opposite is îndesa.^[10][7] Damé glossed it also as tossing hay to dry it and as loosening wool, down or tow.^[11] In slang it means “to beat”.^[12] The noun afânător, a tool or a raising agent, is recorded from 1958.^[3]

Timeline

• 1847 – the participle afânat in Anton Pann, the first record.^[3]
• 1853 – Tiktin's first record.^[7]
• 1913 – the DA, MDA2's first record.^[5]
• 1958 – afânător in DLRM.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. To loosen a granular material, especially soil, making it less compact and increasing its volume by digging or crumbling.^[4][5][1]
2. (slang) To beat someone.^[12]

Word family

• afânător

Related words

• fân
• Latin fēnum

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. afîna
3. ^ a b c d e f g 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. afâna
4. ^ a b DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 18
5. ^ 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, 23
6. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Densusianu, Ov. (1907–1914), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române: elementele latine (A–Putea), București, p. s.v. afîna
7. ^ a b c d Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. afâna
8. ^ 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. afâna
9. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 1, 10
10. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1, 37
11. ^ Damé, Frédéric (1893–1895), Nouveau dictionnaire roumain-français, 4 vols., Bucarest: Imprimerie de l'État, p. s.v. afîna
12. ^ a b Volceanov, George (2007), Dicționar de argou al limbii române, București: Niculescu, p. s.v. afâna