continua

Forms

continua (third-person singular present continuă, past participle continuat, third-person subjunctive continue) 1st conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French continuer (“to continue”), together with its own source, borrowed from Latin continuō (“to join together, continue”).^[2][3][4][1] DELR calls the Latin verb a learned borrowing, and DEX, MDA2 and the neologism dictionaries name both languages, the multiple etymology usual for Romanian neologisms.^[2][3][5] Marcu & Maneca add Italian continuare as a third model.^[6] Tiktin and the DA put French first.^[7][8]

The Latin verb is formed on the adjective continuus (“continuous, unbroken”).^[1] The French verb is an early borrowing of it, recorded from 1154–1173.^[9] The DA compares the Romanian adjective continuu, from the same Latin family.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR dates the first record to 1794, in a calendar printed in Vienna, with the sense “to keep going, to carry an activity further”.^[2] Tiktin also dates it to 1794.^[7] MDA2 takes its first record from Bălcescu's history of Michael the Brave, in the edition of 1878, where the new science “continued” the crushing of the old world.^[4][8]

Semantic evolution

The transitive sense “to carry further something already begun” and the intransitive “to go on, not to stop” are both in the 19th-century record.^[8][10] Pontbriant's dictionary of 1862 glosses it with French continuer, durer, poursuivre and prolonger.^[10] The spatial sense “to extend, to prolong” (a wall, a fence) is given by Șăineanu and the CADE.^[11][12] Followed by să and a verb, it expresses that an action goes on, almost as an aspect marker.^[13]

Several words of the same family entered beside it: continualnic “continuous”, a rare Transylvanian word recorded in 1813 and modelled on German kontinuell, and continual, from French continuel, in 1852.^[2] The DA lists continuare “continuation”, continuat and continuator, the last from French continuateur.^[8]

Timeline

• 1794 – first record, in a calendar printed in Vienna.^[2][7]
• 1813 – continualnic “continuous”, after German kontinuell.^[2]
• 1852 – continual “continuous”, from French continuel.^[2]
• 1862 – in Pontbriant's Romanian–French dictionary.^[10]
• 1878 – MDA2's first record, in the edition of Bălcescu's history of Michael the Brave.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. (intransitive) To continue, to go on without stopping; to last, to stretch further: Ploaia a continuat toată noaptea. “The rain went on all night.”^[3][14]
2. (intransitive, followed by să) To keep on doing something: Copiii au continuat să cânte. “The children kept on singing.”^[13]
3. (transitive) To carry further something begun; to extend a line or a structure in space.^[3][14]

Word family

• continuare
• continuator

Related words

• continuu
• French continuer
• Latin continuō

Usage notes

The first person singular of the present is continuu or continui; the DA also records the rarer continuez and an unusual continuesc.^[3][8] The u and the a are pronounced in separate syllables.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g 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. continua
3. ^ a b c d e f DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 227
4. ^ a b c Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 495
5. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. continua
6. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. continua
7. ^ a b c Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. continua
8. ^ 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. continua
9. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ a b c Pontbriant, Raoul de (1862), Dictiunaru romano-francesu, Bucuresci: A. Ulrich / Göttingen: Dieterich, p. 151
11. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 1, 163
12. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. continua
13. ^ a b Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1, 534
14. ^ a b Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. continua