cuvânta

Forms

cuvânta (third-person singular present cuvântează, past participle cuvântat) 1st conjugation^[1] The present is also cuvintez, and the old language had the forms cuvânt, cuvânți, cuvântă.^[2][3]

Etymology

DER, Tiktin, Scriban and the REW take it as a verb formed in Romanian on the noun, from Romanian cuvânt (“word”) + -a.^[4][5][6] The noun is from Latin conventus (“assembly, meeting”).^[5] Pușcariu, DA, CADE and DEX derive the verb instead straight from Latin conventō (“to meet often”), the frequentative of conveniō, with its sense reshaped after cuvânt;^{[5][7][3][2][8]} DELR gives both views.^{[5][7][3][2][8]} Wiktionary leaves the choice open.^[1]

The step from “meeting” to “talk” is shared by the noun with Albanian kuvend and Modern Greek κουβέντα (kouvénta, “conversation”), and DER compares the verbs Albanian kuvendoj and κουβεντιάζω (kouventiázo).^[4][5] The verb is also Istro-Romanian, where it is the common word for “to speak”.^[7][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR's first record is Coresi's Tetraevangelion of 1560–1561.^[5] The psalters of the 16th century have it, in Coresi's of 1570 at Psalm 37:17.^[9] They also use a mare cuvânta “to talk big, boast”, a calque of Church Slavonic, for the proud who speak against God.^[10][2]

Semantic evolution

In the old language cuvânta was the common verb for “to speak, say”, and also meant “to praise”, “to bless” and “to order”.^[7][2] The chroniclers have a cuvânta de rău “to speak ill of someone”: the neighbouring princes all spoke ill of him.^[6][7] The Lexicon of Mardarie (1649) has it for Slavonic “bless”, the sense that lives on in binecuvânta.^[11][5] DA notes that by the 1930s it had become archaic and popular, replaced in the common language mostly by vorbi.^[7] It is now used chiefly for solemn speech: to address an audience or to recite.^[3][12]

Timeline

• 1560–1561 – in Coresi's Tetraevangelion, the first record.^[5]
• 1563–1583 – binecuvântând in the Codicele Voronețean.^[5]
• 1570 – cuvînta in Coresi's Psalter (Psalm 37:17).^[9]
• 1632 – cuvântare “speech” in Eustratie's Pravila.^[5]
• 1649 – cuvîntez in Mardarie's Slavonic–Romanian lexicon.^[11]
• 1680 – cuvântariu “word; dictionary”, a coinage of Dosoftei.^[5]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive, rare) To speak, say; to declare.^[3][1]
2. (transitive) To give a speech; to recite.^[3][2]
3. (intransitive) To be able to articulate words.^[3][2]

Word family

• binecuvânta
• cuvântare
• cuvântător
• necuvântător

Related words

• cuvânt
• Latin conventus

Usage notes

A cuvânta de bine or de rău means “to speak well or ill of someone”.^[2][6]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 588
3. ^ a b c d e f g DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1, 266
4. ^ a b 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. cuvânt
5. ^ 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. cuvânt
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. cuvânta
7. ^ 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. cuvânta
8. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Ungureanu, Mădălina; Moruz, Alexandru et al., roPsalt: Re-evaluating the Sixteenth Century Romanian Psalters (aligned corpus), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. Ps 37:17
10. ^ Candrea, I.-A. (1916), Psaltirea Scheiană comparată cu celelalte psaltiri din sec. XVI și XVII traduse din slavonește, vol. II: Glosarele, București: Socec, p. 275
11. ^ a b Ungureanu, Mădălina; Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Moruz, Alexandru (eds.), eRomLex: The First Romanian Bilingual Dictionaries (17th century), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. s.v. cuvîntez
12. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1, 625