dezvăța

Forms

dezvăța (third-person singular present dezvață, past participle dezvățat) 1st conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Romanian dez- + învăța (“to accustom, to learn”) (with the prefix replacing ⟨în-⟩).^[2][3][4][1] învăța is inherited from Vulgar Latin *invitiō, from vitium (“fault, vice”).^[5]

Wiktionary mentions, as less likely, a direct Latin source *disvitiō.^[1] In Aromanian, dizvets is formed the same way on nvets.^[6][1] The Italian verb divezzare (“to wean, to break of a habit”) is a parallel formation on vezzo (“habit”).^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Anonymus Caransebesiensis, a Romanian–Latin glossary that MDA2 places in the second half of the 17th century and Tiktin about 1670.^[3][2] Cantemir's Divanul uses it of a bad habit: „Cu răul învățându-te, a-l dezvăța cu nevoie iaste” “once you have grown used to evil, it is hard to unlearn it”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The verb has kept the sense of losing or breaking a habit, transitive (“to wean someone from”) and reflexive (“to break oneself of”), usually with de “from”, more rarely de la.^[4][8] It is a synonym of dezobișnui and dezbăra.^[4] Costache Negruzzi used it of things the ear has grown unused to: „lucruri vechi, de care sunt dezvățate acum a noastre urechi” “old things, which our ears are now unaccustomed to”.^[2][8]

Timeline

• c. 1670 – the Anonymus Caransebesiensis glossary, the first record.^[2][3]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To make someone lose a habit or a custom; to wean someone from something: L-a dezvățat de fumat.^[4][8]
2. (reflexive) To lose a habit, to break oneself of something; to unlearn.^[4][3][1]

Related words

• învăța
• dezobișnui
• Aromanian dizvets

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. dezvăța
3. ^ a b c d Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 702
4. ^ a b c d e DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 310
5. ^ 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. învăța
6. ^ Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net), p. 410
7. ^ Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli, p. s.v. divezzare
8. ^ a b c Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 2, 104