alături

Forms

alături (adverb; popular variant alăturea).^[2] The variant alăturea, with the adverbial ending -a, is still popular: „Pune brânză în strachină și întinge p-alăturea” “he puts cheese in the bowl and dips beside it”, Anton Pann's proverb about a miser.^[3][2]

Etymology

Ciorănescu, MDA2 and the Academy dictionary take it as inherited from Latin ad latera (“at the sides”), with the plural of latus (“side”).^[4][5][6] The DA quotes the phrase from a Latin text and compares Italian allato and Old French lez (“beside”).^[6][4] Wiktionary reconstructs *ad lātera as a variant of ad latus.^[1] The old form was alăture, which survives as a variant.^[4]

Others see a Romanian formation: in DEX and NODEX it is from Romanian a + lature, and Scriban derives it from the noun alone.^[2][7][8] Tiktin explains alăturea as the same phrase “at the side” with the adverbial ending -a, and the headword as formed with the plural lături.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to 1593, in a document of the DIR collection.^[3] MDA2 gives Dosoftei's Lives of the Saints of 1682–1686.^[5] About 1700 Radu Greceanu used alăturea “beside” in describing where the prince of Wallachia sat.^[6]

Semantic evolution

The adverb first marks a place beside someone or something, to the left or right, then two or more people or things side by side.^[6][2] From uses such as alăturea cu dînsul the prepositional phrases alături de and alături cu “beside, together with” arose.^[6] Figuratively it means “in comparison with”, and a fi alături de cineva is to stand by someone, to support them.^[3][2]

De alături “next door, neighbouring” works as an adjective: casa de alături “the house next door”.^[2][6] The old law codes called the brothers, uncles and cousins rudele de alăturea, the collateral kin, as opposed to the kin in the direct line.^[6][5]

Timeline

• 1593 – the first record, in a document.^[3]
• 1682–1686 – alături in Dosoftei's Lives of the Saints.^[5]
• 1688 – alăturea 32 times in the Bucharest Bible.^[9]
• c. 1700 – alăturea “beside” in Radu Greceanu.^[6]

Meanings

Adverb

1. beside, next to someone or something, on the right or the left;^[2][5] de alături “neighbouring, next door”.^[2][5]
2. Not at the point aimed at, but very close to it;^[2][5] a fi alături cu drumul “to be wide of the mark, to be wrong”.^[2][5]
3. side by side; one together with another or with others.^[2][1]
4. alături de: beside, on the same level as, together with;^[2][5] a fi alături de cineva “to stand by someone”.^[2][5]

Word family

• alătura
• alăturaș

Related words

• latură
• lături

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 m DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 24
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. alături
4. ^ 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. alături
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 34
6. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. alături
7. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. alături
8. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 83
9. ^ Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Leviticus 6:11