completa

Forms

completa (third-person singular present completează, past participle completat) 1st conjugation^[1] Older texts also have complecta (from 1843, in Krețulescu's manual of anatomy) and complectui.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French compléter, as DELR, DER, MDA2, DEX and Wiktionary agree;^{[2][4][3][5][1][6]} Tiktin says it was formed after the French verb.^{[2][4][3][5][1][6]} Wiktionary notes that it can also be analysed as complet with the verb ending -a.^[1] The variant complecta is from the form complect of the adjective or from Russian комплектовать (komplektovatʹ), and complectui from the Russian verb.^[2]

The French verb is formed from complet, a borrowing of about 1300 from Latin complētus, the past participle of compleō (“to fill up”), from con- and pleō (“to fill”).^[1][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR and Tiktin date the first record to 1835, in Florian Aaron, in the form complectui; the form complecta follows in 1843, in Krețulescu's manual of anatomy.^[2][6][3] The sense was the present one, “to make complete”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The verb has kept its sense “to make whole, add what is missing”;^[5][8] CADE also has the reflexive, “to become complete”.^[5][8] Wiktionary adds the everyday “to fill in” a form.^[1] The variant complecta is still listed by the dictionaries, and Ciorănescu calls the matching adjective complect a popular form.^[9][5][4] Derivatives include completare and completaș, an old military term for a recruit kept on the army's lists before the reserve.^[2][4]

Timeline

• 1832 – the adjective complet, as complect.^[2]
• 1835 – first record of the verb, as complectui, in Florian Aaron.^[2][6]
• 1843 – complecta in Krețulescu.^[2][3]
• 1846 – incomplet in Laurian.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To complete, to make whole by adding what is missing: a completa o colecție.^[5][3][10]
2. To fill in a form or blank spaces.^[1]
3. (reflexive) To become complete.^[8]

Related words

• complet
• incomplet

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. complet
3. ^ 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, 473
4. ^ a b c d 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. complet
5. ^ a b c d e f DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 212
6. ^ 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. completa
7. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. complet
8. ^ a b c Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. completa
9. ^ Academia Republicii Populare Romîne (1958), Dicționarul limbii romîne moderne, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. s.v. completa
10. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. completa