depăși

Forms

a depăși (third-person singular present depășește, past participle depășit), 4th conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French dépasser, adapted to the native verb păși “to step”.^[2][3][4][5] Tiktin calls it a copy of the French verb made with the Romanian one, and MDA2, DN and Wiktionary describe it as the Romanian prefix de- added to that verb on the French model.^[6][7][8][1]

The French verb, recorded from about 1160, is formed with the prefix dé- from passer (“to pass, to walk”),^[9] which comes from pas (“step”), from Latin passus (“step, stride”), from the supine of pandō (“to spread out, open”).^[2] Graur lists the word in the family of the Latin verb, beside pas, pasaj, pasager and pașaport.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to 1805.^[6] DELR dates it to 1873, in the Penal Code (of 1864), with the sense “to go beyond a limit”.^[2] MDA2 has its first record in Odobescu's collected writings of 1887, where he asks how the language could be expected to „să depășească hotarele locuite de români” “go beyond the borders inhabited by Romanians”.^[7][11]

Semantic evolution

Two senses run side by side from the start: going past someone or something moving the same way, and going beyond a limit, a sum or a level;^[11][2] Odobescu wrote of expenses that had not gone beyond 3,000 florins.^[11][2] By analogy the verb came to mean surpassing in size, number or weight, and figuratively being beyond a person's strength or competence.^[11][3] In the 20th century it became the usual word for one vehicle overtaking another, and the DLR quotes it of tanks and of a spacecraft.^[11] The reflexive compound autodepăși “to surpass oneself” appears in Arghezi in 1925, as the noun autodepășire.^[2]

Timeline

• 1805 – the first record Tiktin gives.^[6]
• 1873 – a record in the Penal Code.^[2]
• 1887 – Odobescu's writings: going beyond a limit.^[7][11]
• 1925 – autodepășire in Arghezi.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To overtake someone or something moving the same way; to leave behind: Mașina a depășit camionul pe autostradă.^[3][7][1]
2. (transitive) To exceed a limit, measure or level; to surpass in size or number.^[3][11]
3. (transitive, figurative) To be beyond someone's strength or competence: Situația îl depășea.^[3][7]

Word family

• autodepăși

Related words

• păși
• pas

References

1. ^ a b c 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” (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. depăși
3. ^ a b c d e DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 291
4. ^ Costăchescu, Adriana; Dincă, Daniela; Dragoste, Ramona; Popescu, Mihaela; Scurtu, Gabriela (2009–2010), Dicționar de împrumuturi lexicale din limba franceză (DILF), 2 vols., Craiova: Universitaria
5. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. depăși
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. depăși
7. ^ a b c d e Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 646
8. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. depăși
9. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. dépasser
10. ^ Graur, Alexandru (1980), Cuvinte înrudite, București: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică, p. 66
11. ^ a b c d e f g Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. depăși