cuprinde

Forms

cuprinde (third-person singular present cuprinde, past participle cuprins, third-person subjunctive cuprindă), third conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin comprendō (“to seize, grasp”), the contracted form of comprehendō, from prehendō (“to take hold of”) with the prefix com-.^{[2][3][4][5][1]} The unprefixed verb gave prinde.^[2] Its Romance cognates are Italian comprendere, French comprendre, Occitan compendre, Catalan compendre, Spanish comprender and Portuguese comprender.^[3][5] These developed above all the senses “to take hold of” and “to understand”, while the Romanian verb kept a wider range.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR's first record is in Coresi's Tetraevanghel of 1560–1561.^[2] Tiktin cites the Codicele Voronețean (c. 1563–1583) at Acts 20:10, where Paul takes the fallen young man in his arms: the first sense was “to clasp, to embrace”.^[6]

Semantic evolution

From clasping with the arms the verb spread to surrounding and seizing: in the old chronicles armies cuprind a country or a fortress, and a person is taken prisoner.^[7][8] Figuratively, sleep, fear or longing cuprinde a person, and one takes in a landscape with the eyes; in the Bible of 1688 the verb already means “to grasp” a saying.^[8][6] The sense “to contain, to include” gave the noun cuprins “contents, table of contents”.^[2]

The participle as an adjective meant “well-off” from 1691–1697, and the reflexive a se cuprinde “to grow rich” is popular.^[2][8] DELR dates the derivatives cuprinsătură (1645), necuprins “infinite” (1648), cuprins (c. 1650) and cuprinzător (1682); the compound atotcuprinzător “all-embracing” is first found in Eminescu.^[2]

Timeline

• 1560–1561 – first record, in Coresi's Tetraevanghel.^[2]
• c. 1563–1583 – “to clasp” in the Codicele Voronețean.^[6]
• 1645 – cuprinsătură in Varlaam's Răspunsul.^[2]
• 1648 – necuprins “infinite”.^[2]
• c. 1650 – the noun cuprins.^[2]
• 1682 – cuprinzător in Dosoftei.^[2]
• before 1889 – atotcuprinzător in Eminescu.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To clasp something all round with the hands or arms;^[8][1] (also reflexive) to embrace;^[8][1] (dated) to take prisoner.^[8][1]
2. (figurative) To take in with one's eyes; to comprehend, to understand; to include.^[8][1]
3. (of clothing) To be big enough for someone;^[8] (regional) to block a road.^[8]
4. To envelop from all sides; to conquer;^[8][9] (figurative, of feelings or states) to seize, to overcome someone.^[8][9]
5. (reflexive, popular) To grow rich.^[8][3]
6. To fill or occupy a space;^[8] (of numbers) to contain;^[8] (reflexive) to go into another number a given number of times.^[8]
7. (of texts) To consist of, to include;^[8][1] (reflexive, of periods) to span.^[8][1]

Word family

• atotcuprinzător
• cuprins
• cuprinzător
• cuprinzătură
• necuprins
• recuprinde
• cuprindere

Related words

• prinde
• Latin comprehendō

Usage notes

The variant coprinde was the main form for Șăineanu, who marked cuprinde as Moldavian.^[8][10] The past tense is cuprinsei and the participle cuprins.^[8]

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 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. cuprinde
3. ^ 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. cuprinde
4. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 575
5. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 2106
6. ^ 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. cuprínde
7. ^ 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. cuprinde
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 261
9. ^ a b Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. cuprinde
10. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 1, 185