aproape

Forms

aproape^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin ad prope (“near to”), a phrase of ad (“to, at”) and prope (“near”).^[2][3][4][5] Wiktionary gives it as Vulgar Latin.^[1] The DA notes that it took the place of the simple adverb.^[6]

The word survives in all four branches of Romanian: Aromanian aproapea, Megleno-Romanian proapi and Istro-Romanian aprope.^[3][2][7][8] The same Latin phrase gave Old French a pruef, Old Occitan aprop and Catalan aprop.^[3][5] The verb apropia “to bring near” is not formed on it in Romanian: DELR derives it from appropiō.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR's first record is the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki of about 1500, which has the word in Psalm 21:11 and several other psalms.^[2][9] MDA2's first record is the Codicele Voronețean (c. 1563–1583), and Tiktin's the Psaltirea Scheiană.^[4][10]

Semantic evolution

From nearness in space the adverb came to mean nearness in time and then “almost, about”; the DA compares German beinahe for this last step.^[11][6] The articled aproapele “one's neighbour, one's fellow man” is recorded about 1500 and is a calque of Old Church Slavonic ближьнь (bližĭnĭ); the older deaproapele is recorded from 1643.^[2][12] Old phrases include a avea pe cineva aproape “to trust someone”: Neculce writes of a cupbearer whom Prince Nicolae „îl avea aproape”, his confidant.^[4][10] A cunoaște de aproape means “to know well”.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 1500 – aproape and aproapele in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki.^[2][9]
• c. 1563–1583 – the Codicele Voronețean, MDA2's first record.^[4]
• 16th century – the Psaltirea Scheiană, Tiktin's first record.^[10]
• 1643 – deaproapele “neighbour” in Varlaam's homilies.^[2]

Meanings

Adverb

1. near, close by, at a short distance in space.^[11][4][1]
2. Near in time, soon or not long ago.^[11]
3. almost, nearly, about.^[11][3]

Noun

1. (articled, aproapele) One's neighbour, one's fellow man.^[11][3][2]

Related words

• apropia
• Latin prope

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. aproape
3. ^ a b c d e 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. aproape
4. ^ a b c d e f 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 Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 197
6. ^ a b 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. aproape
7. ^ Pascu, Giorge (1925), Dictionnaire étymologique macédoroumain, 2 vols. (I: Les éléments latins et romans; II: Les éléments grecs, turcs, slaves, albanais, germaniques, magyars, néologismes, créations immédiates, obscurs), Iași: Cultura Națională, p. 1, 35
8. ^ Capidan, Theodor (1935), Meglenoromânii III: Dicționar meglenoromân, București: Academia Română
9. ^ 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 21:11
10. ^ 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. aproape
11. ^ a b c d e DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 56
12. ^ Kurz, Josef; Hauptová, Zoe (eds.) (1958–1997), Slovník jazyka staroslověnského / Lexicon linguae palaeoslovenicae, 4 vols. + supplements, Praha: Academia; digital ed. gorazd.org