arăduce

Forms

arăduce (third-person singular present arăduce, past participle arădus), third conjugation^[1] The variant without the initial vowel, răduce, is the headword in MDA2 and the DLR, which also record the regional forms răbduce and răzduce.^[2][3] Dosoftei's psalter has it: „Și cu ce cu altă le-aș răduce?” “and with what other thing would I compare them?”.^[4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin redūcō (“to lead back”), formed in Latin from re- (“back”) and dūcō (“to lead”).^[5][3][1] Ciorănescu takes the Latin verb in the sense “to bring again” or “to reduce”, with the initial ⟨a-⟩ added later in Romanian, and also cites the view of Tiktin and Pușcariu that it continues a Latin phrase with ad (“to”).^[5] Tiktin's own explanation is the Latin verb in the sense “to bring into some shape”, and he compares aduce.^[4] Wiktionary allows a derivation from the variant răduce or from a Vulgar Latin *arredūcō.^[1] MDA2 and the DLR file it under the variant and derive that form from Latin.^[2][3]

It is an old word, a doublet of reduce, which was formed in the 19th century on the Latin model.^[5][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is a text of about 1600 printed in Hasdeu's Cuvente den bătrâni.^[4] In the same collection, Moxa's text uses it in the sense “to resemble”: „Miru-mă cum nu-și arăduce fecior a părinte” “I wonder that the son does not take after his father”.^[4][6]

Semantic evolution

The verb had two uses in the old language: transitive “to represent, depict, compare” and intransitive or reflexive “to resemble”.^[5][4][2] A legal code quoted by CADE says that the large and small stone slabs “represent the image” of the Old and the New Law: „acealea arăduc chipul legii vechi și ceii noao”.^[6] Dosoftei used răduce for “to compare” in his verse psalter, and Cantemir used it for “to resemble” in his Istoria ieroglifică.^[4][3] Wiktionary notes that the verb was used mostly before the 18th century, but the DLR still finds a se răduce “to resemble” in the dialect atlases.^[1][3]

Timeline

• c. 1600 – the first record, in a text of Hasdeu's Cuvente den bătrâni.^[4]
• 1673 – răduce “to compare” in Dosoftei's verse psalter.^[4]
• 1705 – răduce “to resemble” in Cantemir's Istoria ieroglifică.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. (obsolete, transitive) To represent, depict or symbolize.^[5][6][1]
2. (obsolete, transitive) To compare one thing with another.^[4][2]
3. (obsolete or regional, intransitive or reflexive) To resemble, take after someone.^[5][3][1]

Related words

• duce
• răduce
• reduce
• aduce

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 632
3. ^ a b c d e f g Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. răduce
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. arăduce
5. ^ 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. arăduce
6. ^ a b c Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească