conta

Forms

conta (third-person singular present contează, past participle contat) 1st conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French compter (“to count”), perhaps also borrowed from Italian contare.^[2] DELR gives French first and Italian as possible;^{[2][3][4][5][6]} MDA2, DEX and the neologism dictionaries name both, and Tiktin puts Italian first.^{[2][3][4][5][6]} The CADE and the DLRM give only French.^[7][8]

The French verb is a learned respelling, from about 1348, of the older form conter, from Latin computō (“to reckon, calculate”).^[9][2] The Latin verb is made of com- and putō (“to reckon”), which first meant “to prune trees or vines”.^[2] The same Latin verb gave Romanian two more words: the inherited cumpăta and the learned computa.^[1][10] An older spelling, ⟨compta⟩, follows the French.^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR dates the first record to 1847, in a text by I. Ionescu, and lists the senses “to rely on”, “to matter” and the old “to calculate, to count”.^[2] Tiktin's first date is also 1847, and his oldest quotation is from Ghica, about a rival who was “counting on” the boyars' intrigues.^[6] The DA's first sense, “to count”, is quoted from Ghica in the spelling compta: votes in general meetings were counted by the number of shares.^[11]

Semantic evolution

Each sense follows a French construction, which the DA glosses side by side: compter “to count”, compter sur “to count on”, compter avec “to reckon with”, compter “to matter” and compter + infinitive “to intend”.^[11] The old sense “to count, to calculate” and “to intend” (contez să… “I mean to…”) are in Șăineanu and the CADE, but no longer in DEX.^[12][7][4] The construction with cu, “to reckon with someone”, is quoted from Alecsandri and is now obsolete.^[11][13] “To rely on” and “to matter” are the senses of today: Maiorescu wrote that France did not count yet and Italy not enough.^[11][4]

DELR records a single derivative, contant “in cash”, in 1897, from French argent comptant.^[2]

Timeline

• 1847 – first record, in I. Ionescu.^[2][6]
• 1887 – MDA2's first record, in the edition of Ion Ghica's letters to Alecsandri.^[3]
• 1897 – contant “in cash”.^[2]
• 1929 – Șăineanu gives “to calculate”, “to intend” and “to rely on”.^[12]

Meanings

Verb

1. (intransitive, with pe) To rely on someone or something, to count on: Poți conta pe mine. “You can count on me.”^[4][3]
2. (intransitive) To matter, to be of importance: Nu contează. “It doesn't matter.”^[4][1]
3. (dated) To count, to calculate.^[3][7]
4. (obsolete, with cu) To take someone into account.^[13][3]

Word family

• contant

Related words

• cont
• cumpăta
• computa
• contabil
• French compter
• Latin computō

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. conta
3. ^ 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, 493
4. ^ a b c d e f DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 226
5. ^ a b Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. conta
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. conta
7. ^ a b c Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. conta
8. ^ Academia Republicii Populare Romîne (1958), Dicționarul limbii romîne moderne, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. s.v. conta
9. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ Graur, Alexandru (1980), Cuvinte înrudite, București: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică
11. ^ 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. conta
12. ^ a b Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 1, 162
13. ^ a b Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan” (1998), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române, 2nd ed., București: Univers Enciclopedic, p. 217