asemăna

Forms

a asemăna (third-person singular present aseamănă, past participle asemănat, third-person subjunctive asemene) 1st conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin assimilō (“to make like, to compare”).^[2][3][4][1] The Latin verb, also spelled assimulō, is formed on similō (“to resemble”), from similis (“like”), which goes back to Proto-Indo-European *sem- (“one”).^[2][1] Ciorănescu marks the etymon as a reconstructed form, after Diez, Pușcariu and the DA.^[5] DELR suggests the form may already have become *assimināre in Latin, as the simple verb gave semăna “to resemble”.^[2]

The /n/ is explained in two ways.^[6][1] The DA derives the word through an older *asemăra, whose /r/ was assimilated to the preceding nasal.^[6] Wiktionary takes the opposite view: speakers took this old form for a rhotacized one and restored an /n/.^[1] DELR records the form with /r/ in the rhotacizing old texts.^[2]

Romance cognates include Old Italian assembiare, French assembler and Spanish asemblar, whose meanings developed differently.^[5][6] The neologisms asimila and asambla are doublets of it.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is the form asămăna in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki of the early 16th century.^[2][7] MDA2 dates it from the Codicele Voronețean (c. 1563–1583).^[3]

Semantic evolution

In the old texts the verb meant “to compare, to liken”, usually with the dative, as in Greek and Latin.^[8] The New Testament of 1648 has „asămănu-l pre el omului înțelept carele-și face casa lui pe piatră” “I will liken him to a wise man who builds his house on rock” (Matthew 7:24).^[8] The reflexive “to be alike, to resemble” stands beside it.^[2][4]

Two old senses have died out.^[2][3] One was “to level ground”, with a asemăna cu pământul “to raze to the ground”; the other was “to interpret a dream”, by comparisons.^[2][9][3] Old derivatives are asemănătură “likeness” (1582), neasemănat “matchless” (1643), asămănăciune “likeness” (1679) and asemănător “similar” (1709–1716).^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1500–1520 – asămăna in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki, the first record.^[2][7]
• c. 1563–1583 – in the Codicele Voronețean.^[3]
• 1582 – asemănătură “likeness” in the Palia de la Orăștie.^[2]
• 1643 – neasemănat “matchless” in Varlaam's Cazania.^[2]
• 1648 – “to liken” in the New Testament of Bălgrad.^[8]
• 1709–1716 – asemănător “similar” in Antim's sermons.^[2]
• 1868 – neasemănare “dissimilarity” in Barcianu.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. (reflexive) To resemble, to have features in common with someone or something.^[4][1]
2. To liken, to consider alike, to compare;^[4][1] (reflexive) to compare oneself.^[4][1]
3. (obsolete) To level ground;^[9][3] a asemăna cu pământul “to raze to the ground”.^[9][3]
4. (obsolete) To interpret a dream.^[2][3]

Word family

• asemănat
• asemănător
• asemănătură
• neasemănat
• asemănare

Related words

• asemui
• semăna
• asimila

Usage notes

The verb takes cu “with” or the dative: se aseamănă cu fratele său “he looks like his brother”.^[6][1] The adverb asemenea “likewise” is not formed on the verb: DELR derives it from asemene, from Latin assimilis.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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 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. asemăna
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 109
4. ^ a b c d e DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 66
5. ^ 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. asemăna
6. ^ a b c d 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. asemăna
7. ^ 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 39:7
8. ^ 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. asemăna
9. ^ a b c Academia Republicii Populare Romîne (1958), Dicționarul limbii romîne moderne, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1, 47