aparține

Forms

aparține (first-person singular present aparțin, third-person singular present aparține, past participle aparținut), 3rd conjugation^[1][2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French appartenir (“to belong”), conjugated after ține.^[2][3][4][1] Tiktin also notes that, like that verb, it passed from the second conjugation to the third.^[5] DELR records the old variant ⟨aparținea⟩ of the second conjugation.^[4]

The French verb was borrowed in the 12th century from Late Latin appertineō (“to belong to”), a compound of pertineō (“to extend; to concern”); its ⟨a⟩ is probably due to Latin pars (“part”).^[6][4] The Latin verb is formed with ad-, and the simple verb with per- and teneō (“to hold”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR's first record is of 1819, in an economic document, with the sense “to belong to someone or something; to be someone's property”.^[4] Tiktin dates the word to 1853, and MDA2's first record is in Hasdeu's Istoria critică a românilor of 1875.^[5][7]

Semantic evolution

The two main senses, “to be someone's property” and “to be part of a class or group”, both came with the French verb.^[2][6] MDA2 also records the figurative senses “to be due to someone” and “to fall to someone as a task”.^[7]

Its family is French too: apartenență from 1862, in Kogălniceanu's plural apartenințe “outbuildings of a household”, and apartenent from 1903.^[4] Aparținător “belonging”, recorded in 1898, is now a noun for the person legally responsible for a patient and, by extension, a relative or friend who visits someone in hospital.^[4]

Timeline

• 1819 – the first record, in an economic document.^[4]
• 1853 – recorded by Tiktin.^[5]
• 1862 – apartenență, as apartenință.^[4]
• 1875 – in Hasdeu's Istoria critică a românilor.^[7]
• 1898 – aparținător “belonging” in the Enciclopedia română.^[4]
• 1903 – apartenent “belonging”.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. (intransitive, with the dative) To belong to someone or something; to be someone's property: Mașina aceasta îi aparține fratelui meu.^[2][7][1]
2. To be part of a class, an organisation or a group: Aparținem aceleiași generații.^[2][7]
3. (figurative) To be due to someone; to fall to someone as a duty.^[7]

Word family

• apartenență
• aparținător

Related words

• ține
• French appartenir

Usage notes

The first person singular is aparțin;^[8] aparțiu, on the model of old țiu, occurs but is not recommended.^[2][8][7]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 52
3. ^ Costăchescu, Adriana; Dincă, Daniela; Dragoste, Ramona; Popescu, Mihaela; Scurtu, Gabriela (2009–2010), Dicționar de împrumuturi lexicale din limba franceză (DILF), 2 vols., Craiova: Universitaria, p. s.v. aparține
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. aparține
5. ^ a b c Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. aparține
6. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ 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, 77
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, 99