asurzi

Forms

asurzi (third-person singular present asurzește, past participle asurzit) 4th conjugation^[1] Old texts also have a present asurd.^[2] Dosoftei's versified psalter has the past asurzâi: „Asurzâi ca surdul de gâlceavă multă” “I grew deaf like a deaf man from much uproar”.^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *assurdīre, formed on Latin surdus (“deaf”) in place of obsurdēscō (“to become deaf”).^[4][5][2][6] The verb survives in Aromanian asurdzãscu.^[4][7][8] Ciorănescu and the DA compare Italian assordire and French assourdir; Spanish ensordecer and Portuguese ensurdecer are built differently.^[4][6] The Italian verb is itself formed within Italian on sordo.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is Eustratie's Pravila of 1632.^[3] MDA2 dates it to Dosoftei's lives of the saints (1682–1686), where it means “to lose one's hearing”: „au asurdzit d'imbe urechile” “he went deaf in both ears”.^[2][6]

Semantic evolution

Both the intransitive sense “to become deaf” and the transitive “to make deaf” are old; the reflexive a se asurzi “to become deaf” is also old, as in the Bucharest Bible of 1688: „Și-ți voiu lega limba și te vei asurzi”.^[3][10] By exaggeration the verb came to mean “to stun, to bewilder” with loud noise, a use found in Creangă.^[6][11] A variant without the prefix, surzi, also exists.^[3][1]

Timeline

• 1632 – in Eustratie's Pravila, Tiktin's first record.^[3]
• 1682–1686 – asurdzit in Dosoftei's lives of the saints.^[2][6]
• 1688 – the reflexive te vei asurzi in the Bucharest Bible.^[10]

Meanings

Verb

1. (intransitive) To become deaf.^[5][2][1]
2. (transitive) To make someone lose their hearing, sometimes for a time; to deafen.^[5][2]
3. (transitive, by exaggeration, of loud sounds) To stop someone from hearing or understanding; to stun, to bewilder: Muzica tare ne-a asurzit.^[5][12]

Word family

• asurzitor
• asurzit
• asurzire

Related words

• surd
• amuți
• Aromanian asurdzãscu

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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, 117
3. ^ a b c d e Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. asurzí
4. ^ 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. asurzi
5. ^ a b c d DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 70
6. ^ a b c d e 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. asurzi
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, 164
8. ^ Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net), p. 157
9. ^ Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
10. ^ a b Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Ezekiel 3:26
11. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. asurzi
12. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. asurzi