aprinde

Forms

aprinde (third-person singular present aprinde, past participle aprins, third-person subjunctive aprindă), third conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin appre(he)ndere (“to seize, grasp”), formed on ad- and prehendō (“to take, seize”).^{[2][3][4][5][1]} DER cites Șăineanu, Pușcariu, Candrea–Densusianu, the REW and the DA.^[3][6]

The other Romance languages kept the verb in the sense “to grasp with the mind, learn”: Italian apprendere, French apprendre, Occitan aprendre, Spanish aprender and Portuguese aprender.^[3][2] The sense “to set alight” came from phrases in which fire “seizes” something or something “takes” fire; such uses of the Latin verb are found in Gregory of Tours, and of comprehendō in Latin.^[2][3] DER and DELR compare French prendre feu and Italian il fuoco è appreso “the fire has caught”.^[3][2]

The verb survives in all four branches: Aromanian aprindu, Megleno-Romanian prind and Istro-Romanian aprindu.^[3][2][7][8] Its doublet is the rare neologism aprehenda.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki, about 1500, at Psalm 82:13, in the sense “to set fire to”.^[2][9] The Psaltirea Scheiană has it at the same verse.^[10][9] MDA2's first record is the Codicele Voronețean.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Besides “to kindle, set fire to”, the verb came to mean “to make (a lamp) give light”, and the reflexive “to catch fire”.^[2][5] Figurative senses followed: to flare up, to grow passionate or angry, to blush.^[2][5] Of hay, grain or flour it means “to heat up and spoil”, and in old use it was said of firing a gun.^[5]

The participle aprins appears in Coresi's psalter of 1570.^[11] The derivative aprinzător “that sets alight” is recorded from 1651, aprinsură “inflammation” from 1703–1709 and the Transylvanian aprinjor “match” from 1865, the last probably after German Zündhölzchen or Hungarian gyufa.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1500 – aprinde in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki (Psalm 82:13), the first record.^[2][9]
• 1570 – the participle aprins in Coresi's psalter.^[11]
• c. 1650 – the nouns aprins and aprinsătură.^[2]
• 1651 – aprinzător in the Alba Iulia psalter.^[2]
• 1703–1709 – aprinsură “inflammation” in Nicolae Costin.^[2]
• 1865 – aprinjor “match”.^[2]
• 1949 – autoaprindere “spontaneous ignition”.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To kindle a fire or set fire to something; reflexive: to catch fire.^[5][1]
2. (obsolete) To fire a gun.^[5]
3. (figurative, reflexive) To break out, flare up.^[5]
4. To turn on a light; reflexive: to light up: A aprins veioza.^[5]
5. (figurative, reflexive) Of people: to become passionate or angry; to blush.^[5][2]
6. (reflexive) Of hay, grain or flour: to heat up and spoil.^[5][2]

Word family

• aprindere
• aprins
• aprinzător
• aprinzătoare
• aprinjor
• aprinsură
• aprinzăcios
• autoaprindere
• reaprinde

Related words

• prinde
• Aromanian aprindu

Usage notes

A-și aprinde paie în cap “to set straw alight on one's own head” means to bring trouble on oneself.^[5]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q 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. aprinde
3. ^ a b c d e f 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. aprinde
4. ^ a b Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 83
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 55
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 554
7. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 121
8. ^ Capidan, Theodor (1935), Meglenoromânii III: Dicționar meglenoromân, București: Academia Română, p. 234
9. ^ a b c Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Ungureanu, Mădălina; Moruz, Alexandru et al., roPsalt: Re-evaluating the Sixteenth Century Romanian Psalters (aligned corpus), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. Ps 82:13
10. ^ Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. aprinde
11. ^ a b Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Ungureanu, Mădălina; Moruz, Alexandru et al., roPsalt: Re-evaluating the Sixteenth Century Romanian Psalters (aligned corpus), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. Ps 20:9