dezvoalbe

Forms

dezvoalbe (third-person singular present dezvoalbă, past participle dezvolt) 3rd conjugation^[1] Old and regional variants are dezvolba (also spelled desvolba), dezvolbi, desholba (Dosoftei) and dăzvulba.^[2][3] The participle dezvolt goes back to a Late Latin participle *voltus, for Classical volūtus, which the Romance languages confirm.^[3]

Etymology

It is probably inherited from Vulgar Latin *disvolvō, from volvō (“to roll, to unroll”) with dis-, according to the Lexicon de la Buda, Hasdeu, Candrea and Densusianu, CADE and Scriban as DELR lists them;^[1] DER, after Candrea, and Wiktionary also start from Latin.^[3][4][1] DELR compares Italian disvolgere, the Franco-Provençal dévoudre, the Walloon disvôre and Old Occitan desvolver.^[3] The DLR takes it instead as formed from Romanian dez- + învoalbe, as the opposite of that verb, which is from involvō.^[2][3][1]

DELR takes “to uncover, to unwrap” as the basic sense, whence “to make clear” and, reflexive, “to come round, to wake up”; for “to fill out”, it compares volba and holba “to swell, to round out”.^[3] Ciorănescu calls the verb a doublet of the neologism dezvolta, which Scriban took as formed on the participle dezvolt, as Italian svoltare was formed from svolgere.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is the verbal noun dezvoálbere in Mardarie's Slavonic–Romanian lexicon of 1649, where it renders the Slavonic for “eloquence”; the phrase dezvoálbere a pilde renders the same Slavonic word in Staicu's lexicon of 1660–1670.^[3] DELR's first record of the verb is from 1696.^[3] Budai-Deleanu used it in the Țiganiada: „Dezvolbind a lui vodă tocmală” “setting forth the prince's terms”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In the old language it meant “to explain, to make clear”, also reflexive: an early 18th-century chronicle says that matters could not be cleared up „a se deslușí și dezvoalbe” through the envoys alone.^[2][3] The reflexive “to wake up, to come round” is recorded in Dosoftei and in regional speech („îl freci ca să se dezvoalbe” “you rub him to bring him round”).^[2] Of plants, fruit and children it meant “to develop, to fill out”, as in Udrescu's Argeș glossary: „S-a dezvolbat fetița asta” “this little girl has filled out”.^[2][3] Bobb's dictionary and regional speech have “to uncover”.^[2] The sense “to unfurl” that Scriban and the DLR give rests on a single form dezvoalse in Budai-Deleanu, which DELR thinks may belong to the verb dezvoalge instead.^[3]

Its family includes the adjective dezvolt “explicit, developed;^[1] (of flowers) open”, from 1785, perhaps strengthened by Italian svolto among the writers of the Transylvanian School, and the southwest Transylvanian dezvolbat “clever”, recorded in the 1950s.^[3][4]

Timeline

• 1649 – the verbal noun dezvoálbere in Mardarie's lexicon, the first record.^[3]
• 1660–1670 – dezvoálbere a pilde in Staicu's lexicon.^[3]
• 1696 – the verb, in a document.^[3]
• 1785 – the participle and adjective dezvolt.^[3]
• 1954–1956 – the regional adjective dezvolbat “clever”.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. (obsolete, transitive and reflexive) To make clear, to explain, to clarify.^[2][3][1]
2. (obsolete and regional, reflexive) To come round, to wake up.^[2][3]
3. (obsolete and regional, reflexive; of plants, fruit, children) To develop, to fill out;^[1] (of flowers) to open.^[2][4][3]
4. (obsolete and regional, transitive) To uncover; to unfold, to unfurl.^[2][3][1]

Word family

• dezvolt
• dezvolbat

Related words

• învoalbe
• volba

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 Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. dezvoalbe
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u 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. dezvoalbe
4. ^ a b c d 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. dezvoalbe