deschide

Forms

deschide (first-person singular present deschid, past participle deschis, third-person subjunctive deschidă), third conjugation^[1][2] The old and popular form is deșchide: „Și deacă trecură 40 de zile deșchise fereastra” “and when forty days had passed he opened the window” (Palia de la Orăștie, 1581–1582).^[3][4][2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin disclūdō (“to separate, shut off”), formed with dis- on claudō (“to shut”).^{[4][5][2][6][1][7]} The Latin consonant group /skl/ regularly gave /ʃkʲ/, so the inherited form is ⟨deșchide⟩, which DELR finds in texts until late; the standard form with /sk/ was rebuilt later after închide, on the model of the antonym pairs with the prefixes ⟨în-⟩ and ⟨des-⟩.^[4]

It survives in all four branches: Aromanian dishcljid, Megleno-Romanian dișcl'id and Istro-Romanian rescl'ide, the last with its prefix replaced.^[4][5][8][9] Its Romance cognates include Italian dischiudere, Occitan desclaure and Catalan descloure.^[5][4][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR's first record is the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki of the early 16th century, in the form deșchide.^[4][10] Tiktin's is the Psaltirea Scheiană (Psalm 48:5), MDA2's a text of 1550–1580 in Gaster's chrestomathy.^[11][6] The early sense is the physical one, to open a door, a window or the hand.^[3]

Semantic evolution

From opening doors and lids the verb spread to unlocking, unfolding and cutting open, to cutting a road, and to starting something: a debate, a shop, a school.^[2][11] Reflexively, the sky se deschide when it clears and a colour when it grows paler; of people it came to mean to confide in someone or to become enlightened, and the participle deschis means “frank, open-minded” as well as “light” of colours and “open” of vowels.^[11][2][4] Phrases include a-și deschide inima “to open one's heart” and a deschide ochii “to open one's eyes”, also figuratively.^[2] The sense “to switch on” an electrical device is recent.^[4][1]

Timeline

• early 16th century – deșchide and the participle deșchis in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki.^[4]
• 1566 – the noun deșchis “opening” in Coresi.^[4]
• 1581–1582 – „deșchise fereastra” “he opened the window” in the Palia de la Orăștie.^[3]
• c. 1650 – deșchizătură “opening” in the Anonymus Caransebesiensis.^[4]
• 1698 – deșchidere “opening” in Cantemir.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. To open a door, window, lid and the like, and figuratively one's heart: a-și deschide inima “to open one's heart”.^[2][1]
2. To unlock.^[2][1]
3. To spread apart, part: a deschide ochii “to open one's eyes”.^[2]
4. To open a letter or a book; to cut open surgically.^[2]
5. (reflexive) To split, crack; of flowers, to open; of a view, to unfold.^[2]
6. To cut a road or a path.^[2]
7. To begin, start: a deschide vorba “to broach a subject”.^[2]
8. To set up, found: Au deschis o școală în sat.^[2]
9. To switch on an electrical device.^[1][4]
10. (reflexive) Of colours, to become lighter; figuratively, to brighten.^[2]

Word family

• deschidere
• deschis
• deschizător
• deschizătură

Related words

• închide
• Aromanian dishcljid
• Latin disclūdō

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 m n o DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 295
3. ^ a b c Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. deschide
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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. deschide
5. ^ a b c 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. deschide
6. ^ a b Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 655
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 402
9. ^ Capidan, Theodor (1935), Meglenoromânii III: Dicționar meglenoromân, București: Academia Română, p. 111
10. ^ 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 103:29
11. ^ 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. deschide