compara

Forms

compara (third-person singular present compară, past participle comparat, third-person subjunctive compare), first conjugation^[1] The present is compar; an old and rare present comparez also occurs: „Ea se compărează cu acele revoluții urmate în Franța” “it is compared with those revolutions that took place in France” (1845).^[2][3] An older variant compăra is recorded from 1828, and compărălui from 1800.^[4][5]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French comparer, and it is also borrowed from Latin comparō (“to pair, match, compare”), as DELR, DEX and MDA2 give it;^[4][6][3][1] DELR describes the French verb as itself borrowed from Latin.^[4][6][3][1] Tiktin names Latin first and French second.^[5] The Latin verb is formed on compār (“equal, like”), from con- and pār (“equal”).^[4][1]

The same Latin verb, in its sense “to procure”, was inherited as a cumpăra “to buy”, which the DA compares.^[2][7][8] Graur lists the verb among the Romanian neologisms of the family of the same Latin adjective, beside pereche, inherited from a Latin diminutive.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to 1797.^[5] DELR dates the verb to 1800, with the variant compărălui in a work of Samuil Micu, and the form compăra to 1828, in Pleșoianu; its sense was to establish the likenesses and differences between things or persons.^[4] MDA2 quotes as its first record Krețulescu's manual of anatomy of 1843, which asks the reader to study a bone's direction without comparing it with the other bones of the skeleton.^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

Besides the comparing of two things, the verb came to mean placing someone on the same level as another; the reflexive a se compara “to measure oneself against” is quoted from Alecsandri: „Cu mine nici Vezuvul nu se compară” “not even Vesuvius compares with me”.^[2][3] Negulici's dictionary of 1848 recorded both present forms, compar and comparez.^[10]

The family entered Romanian mostly from French and Latin: comparativ as a grammatical term in 1787, before the verb, comparație in 1797, comparabil and incomparabil about 1832, and the scholarly comparatist and comparatism in the 1970s.^[4]

Timeline

• 1787 – comparativ in Văcărescu's grammar.^[4]
• 1797 – the first record of the verb.^[5]
• 1797 – comparație in Tempea's grammar.^[4]
• 1800 – the variant compărălui in Samuil Micu.^[4]
• 1828 – the form compăra in Pleșoianu.^[4]
• c. 1832 – comparabil and incomparabil in Iordache Golescu.^[4]
• 1843 – compara in Krețulescu's manual of anatomy.^[3]
• 1845 – the reflexive se compărează in the Uricariul.^[2]
• 1848 – Negulici's dictionary of neologisms.^[10]
• 1975 – comparatist; 1978 – comparatism.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. To compare: to examine two or more things side by side to find their likenesses and differences; to set against each other, confrunta.^[6][3]
2. To put someone or something on the same level as another; to liken: Poetul își compară iubita cu o floare. “The poet likens his beloved to a flower.”^[3][11]
3. (reflexive) To measure oneself against someone, to bear comparison: Nimeni nu se poate compara cu ea.^[3][2]

Word family

• comparabil
• comparabilitate
• comparatism
• comparatist
• comparativ
• comparator
• comparație
• incomparabil
• necomparabil

Related words

• cumpăra
• pereche
• Latin comparō

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. compara
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 472
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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. compara
5. ^ a b c d Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. compara
6. ^ a b c DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 211
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 2094
8. ^ 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. cumpăra
9. ^ Graur, Alexandru (1980), Cuvinte înrudite, București: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică
10. ^ a b Negulici, I. D. (1848), Vocabular romînesc de toate vorbele streine întroduse pînă acum în limba romînească și de toate cuvintele ce s-ar mai putea introduce încă, București, p. s.v. comparare
11. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. compara