alătura

Forms

alătura (third-person singular present alătură, past participle alăturat, third-person subjunctive alăture) 1st conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Romanian alături + -a, from the adverb meaning “beside”.^[2][3][4][1] The Academy dictionary derives it from alature, the old form of that adverb, and Tiktin likewise, comparing alăturea.^[5][6] DELR treats the verb in the family of latură, which it has not yet published.^[7]

The adverb goes back to Vulgar Latin *ad lātera (“at the sides”), from ad (“to, at”) and the plural of latus (“side”); Italian allato and Old French lez are its Romance cognates.^[2][1] DEX analyses it instead as a Romanian formation on lature.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is in a Coresi print of 1563.^[6] The 1688 Bible uses it for bringing something close: „la ale mele cuvinte alătură-ți urechia” “incline your ear to my words”.^[6]

Semantic evolution

The verb means “to put beside” and, reflexively, “to come beside”.^[5] Placing something beside something else could aim at bringing it near, at adding it, or at comparing the two, and the old language had all three senses.^[5][6] The reflexive also meant “to border on”: in the 1688 Bible a land „să alătură cu hotarăle Moav” “borders on the frontiers of Moab” (Numbers 21:15).^[6] MDA2 marks the senses “to border on” and “to approach” as obsolete.^[3]

From “to add” came the office sense “to attach a document”: Ghica wrote that he had attached a draft manifesto to a memorandum.^[6][8] The reflexive “to join a cause or a movement” is the last sense DEX gives.^[4] DLRM and DEX record a variant lătura.^[9][4]

Timeline

• 1563 – first record, in a Coresi print.^[6]
• 1660 – in a Slavonic–Romanian lexicon.^[10]
• 1688 – the Bucharest Bible: „alătură-ți urechia” and „să alătură cu hotarăle Moav”.^[6]
• 1931 – CADE records the senses “to put side by side”, “to attach” and “to compare”.^[11]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive and reflexive) To put or come beside someone or something, to draw close; to join.^[4][3]
2. (transitive) To add; to attach or annex a document: Alăturăm la cerere copia diplomei.^[4][8]
3. (transitive, figurative) To compare, to set side by side.^[4][3]
4. (reflexive) To join a cause or a movement: S-a alăturat protestului.^[4][1]
5. (obsolete) To border on; to approach.^[3]

Related words

• alături
• latură

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b 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. alături
3. ^ 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, 33
4. ^ 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. 24
5. ^ a b c 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. alătura
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. alăturá
7. ^ 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. alătura
8. ^ a b Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1, 52
9. ^ Academia Republicii Populare Romîne (1958), Dicționarul limbii romîne moderne, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1, 17
10. ^ 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. alătur
11. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească