cuveni

Forms

cuveni (third-person singular present cuvine, past participle cuvenit, third-person subjunctive cuvină), 4th conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin conveniō (“to come together; to suit, be fitting”).^{[2][3][4][5][6][1]} The Latin verb was formed with con- on veniō (“to come”).^[2][7] DELR calls it panromance;^[2] its cognates include Italian convenire, French convenir, Catalan convenir and Portuguese convir.^[3]

DELR explains three old senses as later influences: “to resemble” follows Old Church Slavonic подобити сѧ (podobiti sę), “to suit, please” follows the French verb, and “to approve” comes from the derivative încuviința.^[2][4] conveni, from French, is its doublet.^[3][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR dates the first record to the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki of the early 16th century.^[2] The DA quotes a verse of the Psaltirea Scheiană with the impersonal construction that is still usual: „derepților cuvine-se laudă” “praise is fitting for the righteous”.^[6] The sense was “to befit, be due to”.^[6][5]

Semantic evolution

The verb is impersonal and reflexive: mi se cuvine “it is due to me”, se cuvine să… “it is proper to…”, cum se cuvine “as is fitting”.^[5][8] In church texts it also translated the Slavonic verb for “to resemble”, a sense now lost.^[4][2]

A large family grew from it.^[2] Cuvios “devout”, now a title of monks, appears in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki;^[3][2] Ciorănescu rejects Pușcariu's Latin *conveniosus and takes it as a Romanian derivative.^[3][2] Cuviință “decency” may continue Latin convenientia or be formed on the verb;^[2][3] DELR gives both views.^[2][3] Încuviința “to approve” is formed on cuviință.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1500-1520 – the verb in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki, the first record.^[2]
• c. 1500-1520 – cuvios in the same psalter.^[2]
• 1560-1561 – cuviință in Coresi's Tetraevanghel.^[2]
• 1570 – cuvioșa “to make worthy” in Coresi.^[2]
• c. 1573-1578 – the verb in the Psaltirea Scheiană.^[4][5]
• 1581 – necuviință “unseemly thing” in Coresi.^[2]
• 1660 – a Slavonic–Romanian lexicon glosses Slavonic “it is fitting” with cuvine.^[9]
• 1683 – bună-cuviință “good manners” in Dosoftei.^[2]
• 1757 – încuviința “to approve”.^[2]
• 1844 – descuviința “to disapprove” in Kogălniceanu.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. (reflexive, impersonal, with a dative) To be due to someone by right; to deserve: Partea aceasta i se cuvine.^[8][4][1]
2. (reflexive, impersonal) To be proper, to befit the rules of morality or politeness: Nu se cuvine să vorbești așa.^[8][4]

Word family

• cuviincios
• cuviința
• cuviință
• cuvioșa
• cuvioșește
• cuvioșie
• descuviința
• descuviințător
• încuviința
• necuviincios
• necuviință
• preacuviință
• preacuvioșie
• cuvios

Related words

• conveni
• Latin conveniō

Usage notes

The verb is used only in the third person;^[5] cum se cuvine means “properly, as it should be”.^[5][4]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t 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. cuveni
3. ^ a b c d e f g 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. cuveni
4. ^ a b c d e f g Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 588
5. ^ a b c d e f Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. cuveni
6. ^ a b c 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. cuveni
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. conueniō
8. ^ a b c DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 266
9. ^ 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. cuvine