contribui

Forms

contribui (third-person singular present contribuie, past participle contribuit), 4th conjugation^[1] A first-conjugation variant contribua occurs in the 19th century: Russo writes „pentru a contribua la cheltuielile Statului” “to contribute to the expenses of the State”.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French contribuer and Latin contribuere, the double source DELR, DEX, MDA2 and the neologism dictionaries give.^[3][4][5][6] Wiktionary and the DA name only French, Tiktin only Latin, and Scriban sets Latin beside Italian contribuire.^[1][2][7][8]

The Latin verb is formed from con- (“with”) and tribuō (“to divide, distribute, grant”), first in the sense “to divide (a tax) among the tribes”, from tribus (“tribe”).^[3] French borrowed it in the 14th century from the legal Latin of the Empire, where it meant “to bring one's share”.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is of 1817, in a document printed in the Uricariul, in the sense “to help bring about”: the text urges looking into everything that could contribute „la fericirea oblăduiților” “to the happiness of those he governs”.^[2][3][7][5]

Semantic evolution

DELR groups two senses: taking part in a common action or paying one's share of a common expense, and helping something come about.^[3] Negulici's vocabulary of 1848 already has both: helping an undertaking succeed and paying a contribution to the State.^[10] Several words of the family came separately from French, German and Latin: contribuție from German Kontribution and Latin, recorded as contribuțion in 1730, earlier than the verb, and contribuabil “taxpayer” from French contribuable.^[3] Old and regional forms of the noun include contribuțiune and, in Bukovina, controbuție and cotrobuție.^[3][2]

Timeline

• 1730 – contribuțion “contribution, levy”, the first record of the family.^[3]
• 1817 – contribui in a document of the Uricariul, the first record of the verb.^[3][7]
• 1848 – contribuent “contributor, taxpayer”, from Latin.^[3]
• 1848 – Negulici lists the verb among the new words of the language.^[10]
• 1866 – contribuitor “who contributes”.^[3]
• 1881 – contributiv in Eminescu, from French.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. (intransitive, with la) To make one's contribution, moral or material, to something.^[5][4]
2. To participate in a common action.^[5][6]
3. To help bring something about or make it develop: Ploile au contribuit la recolta bună.^[4][5]
4. To pay one's share of a common expense.^[5][11]

Word family

• contribuitor
• contribuire

Related words

• contribuție
• contribuabil
• contributiv
• French contribuer
• Latin contribuō

Usage notes

The present is contribui, contribuie, stressed on the second syllable;^[4][12][2] DLRLC and the DA record a rare present contribuiesc.^[4][12][2]

References

1. ^ a b 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. contribui
3. ^ 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. contribui
4. ^ a b c d e DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 231
5. ^ 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, 499
6. ^ a b Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. contribui
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. contribui
8. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 342
9. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
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. contribuire
11. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. contribui
12. ^ a b Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1, 539