depinde

Forms

depinde (third-person singular present depinde, past participle depins, third-person subjunctive depindă), 3rd conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French dépendre, also borrowed from Latin dēpendeō (“to hang from; to depend on”) as a learned word, as DELR, MDA2, DEX 2009 and the DLR give it.^[2][3][4][5] Tiktin names only the Latin, and Wiktionary only the French.^[6][1] The DN adds Italian dipendere, and DELR takes the early variant dipende from it.^[7][2] The vowel ⟨i⟩ of the stem is a Romanian adaptation: Ciorănescu thinks the verb was fitted to the conjugation of prinde, on the model of French pendre beside prendre.^[8][2] The Latin verb is formed on pendeō (“to hang”).^[2][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR and Tiktin date the first record to 1787, in Ienăchiță Văcărescu's grammar, in the form dipende, said of the genitive case that depends on a noun.^[2][6][5]

Semantic evolution

The first half of the 19th century tried several forms: depăndă in Heliade Rădulescu, depende in other writers, depinde by the 1840s.^[5][2] The sense has stayed that of the French and Latin model: to be conditioned by something, and of people or territories to be subject to someone.^[4][3] In speech the bare Depinde! “it depends” answers a question without committing.^[4]

The family of the verb came from French as well: dependență and independent in the 1780s and 1790s, dependent in 1833.^[2]

Timeline

• 1787 – dipende in Văcărescu's grammar, the first record.^[2][6]
• 1787 – dipendență “dependence” in the same grammar.^[2]
• 1794 – indipendență and indipendente in Văcărescu's history.^[2]
• 1833 – dependent in Săulescu's grammar.^[2]
• 1848 – depinde with the gloss atârnă “hangs on” in a text quoted by the DLR.^[5]

Meanings

Verb

1. (intransitive, with de) To depend on something, to be conditioned by it;^[4][3][1] Depinde! “It depends!”.^[4][3][1]
2. (intransitive, with de) Of people, institutions or territories: to be subordinate to someone, to be under their authority.^[4][3]

Related words

• dependent
• dependență
• independent
• independență
• interdependent
• French dépendre

Usage notes

The verb is conjugated like prinde: past participle depins, simple past depinsei.^[4][6]

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 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. depinde
3. ^ 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
4. ^ 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. 291
5. ^ a b c d Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. depinde
6. ^ a b c d Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. depinde
7. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România
8. ^ 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. depinde
9. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert