crește

Forms

crește (present cresc, third-person singular crește, past participle crescut, subjunctive să crească), 3rd conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin crēscō (“to grow, increase”).^{[2][3][4][5][1][6]} DÉRom reconstructs Proto-Romance */ˈkresk-e-/ “to grow; to make grow”.^[7] The Latin verb comes from Proto-Indo-European *ḱreh₁- (“to grow, become bigger”).^[1][8]

It survives in all four branches: Aromanian crescu, Megleno-Romanian cresc and Istro-Romanian crescu.^[2][9][3] Its Romance cognates include Italian crescere, Sardinian krèskere, French croître, Catalan créixer, Spanish crecer and Portuguese crescer.^[2][6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR's first record is the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki of about 1500, and DÉRom gives the same text.^[3][7] Tiktin's first record is the Codicele Voronețean (Acts 19:20), where it means to grow, of the word of God spreading.^[10][4]

Semantic evolution

The intransitive “to grow, become bigger” is the old sense; a transitive use “to raise children, rear animals, grow plants” is old as well, and Tiktin quotes it with both.^[10][3] From raising children came “to educate”.^[2][5] The verb also applies to quantities and volume: dough that rises, a river that swells, prices, the waxing moon.^[2][5]

The participle gave crescut “growth; stature, age”, recorded in Coresi's psalter of 1570, and the noun crescător “breeder; educator” is recorded in 1651.^[3] Creștet “top of the head, summit” is generally taken as a derivative with the suffix -et;^[2] Ciorănescu rejects Meyer's comparison with Albanian krešte “crest” and Pascu's Latin *cristidum.^[2] Descrește “to decrease” was formed on the model of French décroître.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1500 – crește in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki.^[3][7]
• c. 1563–1583 – in the Codicele Voronețean.^[4][10]
• 1570 – the noun crescut “growth; stature” in Coresi's psalter.^[3]
• 1651 – crescător “one who raises; breeder” in the Alba Iulia psalter.^[3]
• 1847 – descrește “to decrease”, in Anton Pann.^[3]
• 1853–1854 – crescând “growing”, modelled on the present participle.^[3][2]
• 1897 – crescătorie “breeding farm”.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. (intransitive) Of people, animals and plants, or parts of them: to grow, become bigger through natural development;^[5][4][1] (figurative) to develop professionally or culturally.^[5][4][1]
2. (intransitive) To spend one's childhood somewhere, to grow up.^[5]
3. (transitive) To raise and educate a child; to breed animals;^[5][1] (rare) to cultivate plants.^[5][1]
4. (intransitive) To increase in number, volume, intensity or length.^[5]
5. (intransitive) Of dough: to rise; of waters: to swell.^[5][2]

Word family

• concrește
• crescând
• crescătorie
• crescut
• crescătură
• descrescător
• descrescând
• descrescent
• descrește
• creștere
• crescător
• creștet

Related words

• Latin crēscō

Usage notes

Să crești mare! “may you grow big!” is a greeting or thanks said to a child.^[5][4] A crește văzând cu ochii is to grow remarkably fast.^[5]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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. crește
3. ^ 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. crește
4. ^ 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, 547
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 249
6. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 2317
7. ^ a b c d Buchi, Éva; Schweickard, Wolfgang, eds. (2008–), Dictionnaire Étymologique Roman (DÉRom), Nancy: ATILF, http://www.atilf.fr/DERom
8. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
9. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 310
10. ^ 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. crește