aresta

Forms

aresta (third-person singular present arestează, past participle arestat) 1st conjugation^[1]

Etymology

According to DELR, it is borrowed from New Latin arrestare, the legal Latin verb, as Ursu proposed, and also a derivative of arest after French arrêter, as the DA, CADE and DEX explain it.^[2] DEX, the DLRM and NODEX derive it from the noun alone, and the DA from the noun on the model of the French verb.^[3][4][5][6] MDA2 and CADE have the same view, and Marcu has the Latin verb after the French one.^[7][8][9] Ciorănescu derives the verb from the noun, which he traces to Italian arrestare with the legal sense of the French verb.^[10] Tiktin calls it of multiple origin.^[11] Wiktionary gives both explanations.^[1]

The Latin, French and Italian verbs go back to Vulgar Latin *arrestō, from restō (“to stay behind, remain”), itself from stō (“to stand”).^[2][12] The Transylvanian variant areștelui comes from Hungarian árestál or the Latin verb, and areștui was made on the variant areșt of the noun.^[2] The DA explains -ălui and -ui as the suffixes by which the older writers adapted new verbs.^[6] The noun itself is recorded from 1728 and comes from German Arrest, which goes back to Medieval Latin arrestum.^[2][13]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR's first record, of 1736, is the Transylvanian variant areștelui; the form aresta appears in a calendar printed in Vienna in 1794.^[2] Tiktin records aresta from 1763.^[11] The sense has been from the start to seize someone in order to put them in prison.^[2][6] MDA2's first record is Constantin Negruzzi's writings, in the 1872 edition.^[7]

Semantic evolution

In the early 19th century several forms competed.^[6] Șincai in Transylvania wrote arestălui: „Niciun mirean ... să aibă putere de a arestălui sau prinde pe cineva” “let no layman have the power to arrest or seize anyone”.^[6] Gorjan, Bălcescu and Alecsandri used arestui.^[6] Pontbriant (1862) has aresta and derives it from Latin ad and restare.^[14] MDA2 records a rare familiar sense, to make something one's own.^[7] Ciorănescu notes that the French verb also gave the hunting terms aret and areta, used of a dog that stops on game.^[10]

Timeline

• 1736 – the Transylvanian variant areștelui.^[2]
• 1763 – aresta.^[11]
• 1788 – arestant “person under arrest”, in Budai-Deleanu.^[2]
• 1794 – the form aresta in a calendar printed in Vienna.^[2]
• 1807 – the variant areștui.^[2]
• 1833 – arestație “arrest”, from French arrestation.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To arrest: to hold someone in legal custody pending trial or a judicial inquiry; to detain.^[3][7]
2. (familiar, rare) To take something for oneself.^[7]

Word family

• arestare
• arestat

Related words

• arest
• arestant
• French arrêter

Usage notes

The obsolete variants arestui and arestălui are still listed as synonyms in MDA2.^[7] Damé glossed the verb with French arrêter and mettre en état d'arrestation.^[15]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. aresta
3. ^ a b DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 59
4. ^ Academia Republicii Populare Romîne (1958), Dicționarul limbii romîne moderne, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1, 40
5. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. aresta
6. ^ a b c d e f 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. aresta
7. ^ 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, 92
8. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. aresta
9. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. aresta
10. ^ a b 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. arest
11. ^ 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. aresta
12. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier, p. s.v. arrestare
13. ^ Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. arest
14. ^ Pontbriant, Raoul de (1862), Dictiunaru romano-francesu, Bucuresci: A. Ulrich / Göttingen: Dieterich, p. 42
15. ^ Damé, Frédéric (1893–1895), Nouveau dictionnaire roumain-français, 4 vols., Bucarest: Imprimerie de l'État, p. s.v. aresta