astâmpăra

Forms

astâmpăra (third-person singular present astâmpără, past participle astâmpărat, third-person subjunctive astâmpere) 1st conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *extemperāre, formed with the prefix ex- on temperō (“to moderate, temper”).^{[2][3][4][1][5]} Ciorănescu cites this etymology from Densusianu, Pușcariu, the REW, the DA and Rosetti.^[2] He notes that the other Romance languages continue the simple Latin verb, though there is French attremper.^[2] The DA lists Italian temperare among them.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR and Tiktin date the first record to 1581, in Coresi's Evanghelie cu învățătură, in the form stâmpăra.^[6][5] The sense there is “to calm, to appease”.^[6] MDA2's first record is a document of 1756.^[4]

Semantic evolution

In the old language the verb could be used of very hot or cold water or air, “to make bearable, to cool”: „Limba aprinsă o stâmpărăm cu apă” “we cool the burning tongue with water”.^[4][5] Dosoftei's psalter uses it of thirst, „să-m stâmpăr de sete” “that I may quench my thirst”.^[5] The figurative senses “to calm, to soothe” passions, storms or people became the main ones, and reflexively “to calm down, keep still”.^[5][7] In Creangă: „De ce nu vă astâmpărați în mănăstire” “why do you not keep still in the monastery”.^[5]

The noun astâmpăr “calm, rest” is a back-formation of 1830.^[6] The negative participle neastâmpărat “restless, unruly” is recorded much earlier, in Ureche's chronicle of 1642–1647, and neastâmpăr “restlessness” in 1839.^[6]

Timeline

• 1581 – stâmpăra in Coresi's Evanghelie cu învățătură.^[6][5]
• 1642–1647 – neastâmpărat “restless” in Ureche's chronicle.^[6]
• c. 1660 – stâmpăra in the Slavonic–Romanian lexicon Lex.St.^[8]
• 1756 – in a document published in the Uricariul.^[4]
• 1775 – neastâmpărător “causing unrest” in a court document.^[6]
• 1830 – astâmpăr “calm” in I. Văcărescu.^[6]
• 1839 – neastâmpăr “restlessness”.^[6]
• 1857 – astâmpărător “calming” in Polizu's dictionary.^[6]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive and reflexive) To calm or soothe, to quieten down, to settle.^[7][4][1]
2. (transitive and reflexive) To lessen or make less intense, to quench or allay, to stop or cease.^[7][1]
3. (intransitive) To keep still, to stop moving.^[4]
4. (obsolete) To make very hot or cold water or air bearable, to temper.^[4][5]

Word family

• astâmpăr
• astâmpărător
• neastâmpăr
• neastâmpărat
• neastâmpărător
• neastâmpărătură

Related words

• tempera

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c 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. astâmpăra
3. ^ 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. astâmpăra
4. ^ a b c d e f g Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 114
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. astâmpăra
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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. astâmpăra
7. ^ a b c DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 69
8. ^ Ungureanu, Mădălina; Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Moruz, Alexandru (eds.), eRomLex: The First Romanian Bilingual Dictionaries (17th century), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. s.v. stîmpăra