descrie

Forms

descrie (first-person singular present descriu, past participle descris), 3rd conjugation^[2][1] Older texts also have the infinitives descri and descria, after the old variants scri and scria of scrie: „nu le pociu descri pe toate cu amăruntul” “I cannot describe them all in detail”, „voi descria datorințele pruncilor” “I shall describe the duties of children” (1830s).^[3][4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French décrire, adapted to the Romanian verb scrie (“to write”), which gave it its conjugation.^[2][5][1] DELR names borrowed from Latin dēscrībō (“to copy; to draw; to describe”) as a source beside the French verb, both made Romanian after the native verb.^[3] Ciorănescu calls it a translation of the French verb by means of the native verb, and Tiktin compares the French and Italian descrivere.^[6][7] MDA2 analyses it as the prefix de- and the native verb, a calque of the French verb.^[8]

The French verb was taken from Latin about 1119 and remade after écrire.^[9] The Latin verb is formed from dē- and scrībō (“to write”), the source of the Romanian verb.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin and DELR date the first record to 1781–1783, in Samuil Micu's Logica.^[7][3] MDA2 gives a later first record, a document of before 1827 in the Uricariul.^[8] In the early quotations of the DLR, Petru Maior writes of copying a book from the original (să o descriu) and of describing the virtues of a peaceful emperor.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The early quotations are from Samuil Micu, Petru Maior and the press of the 1820s–1830s, which use it of describing a ceremony, a journey or a country.^[4] The geometric sense “to draw a curve or a circle”, which French had from 1559, is in Tiktin's and Pontbriant's dictionaries, and modern dictionaries add “to travel along a trajectory”.^{[9][7][10][2]} A Transylvanian variant describălui is recorded beside it.^[8] The derivatives came partly from French: descriptiv (1831), descripție (1812), indescriptibil (1862).^[3][6]

Timeline

• 1781–1783 – in Samuil Micu's Logica, the first record.^[3][7]
• 1812 – descripție “description” in Petru Maior.^[3]
• before 1827 – in a document of the Uricariul.^[8]
• 1829 – the Curierul Românesc uses it of describing a school ceremony.^[4]
• 1831 – descriptiv “descriptive” in Heliade-Rădulescu's grammar.^[3]
• 1862 – indescriptibil “indescribable” in Antonescu's dictionary.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. To describe, depict: to present someone or something in words, often in detail.^[2][8][1]
2. To trace a curved line, an arc or a circle.^[2][8]
3. To travel along a trajectory: Mingea a descris un arc peste poartă. “The ball described an arc over the goal.”^[2][8]

Word family

• descriere
• descriptiv
• indescriptibil

Related words

• scrie
• French décrire

Usage notes

It is conjugated like scrie: descriu, descrisei, descris.^[5][11] The participle gives the phrase de nedescris “indescribable”.^[11]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 297
3. ^ 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. descrie
4. ^ a b c d Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. descrie
5. ^ a b Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. descrie
6. ^ 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. descrie
7. ^ 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. descrie
8. ^ 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, 658
9. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ Pontbriant, Raoul de (1862), Dictiunaru romano-francesu, Bucuresci: A. Ulrich / Göttingen: Dieterich, p. 201
11. ^ a b Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 2, 67