dezvolta

Forms

dezvolta (third-person singular present dezvoltă, past participle dezvoltat, third-person subjunctive dezvolte), 1st conjugation^[1]

Etymology

Its origin is disputed: DEX and the DLR call it of unknown origin, the DLR comparing the old verb dezvoalbe “to unfold, explain”.^[2][3] DELR explains it as a learned formation from Romanian dezvolt (“explicit, set out at length, (of flowers) opened”), the participle of that verb, which gave a verb with a regular paradigm.^[4] The participle could also be read as that of the variant dezvoalge, an adaptation of Italian svolgere (“to unfold, develop (a subject)”), whose participle is svolto;^[4] Italian svoltare was proposed as the model by Scriban.^[4] The senses were taken from French développer (“to unfold; to develop”), and the medical sense “to develop (an illness)” follows English develop.^[4][1]

Tiktin analysed it as dez- added to învolta “to bloom fully”, and compared the old verb.^[5] Șăineanu also started from the verb for blooming, with some senses after French.^[4] Marcu and Maneca derive it from Latin disvolvō, while MDN only says it was modelled on that Latin verb.^[6][7] The old verb itself is traced to Vulgar Latin *disvolvō, built on volvō (“to roll, turn, unroll”), or explained as a Romanian formation on învoalbe (from involvō).^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR's first record is the noun dezvoltuire of 1789, from a variant of the verb.^[4] The long infinitive dezvoltare, spelt desvoltare, appears in the Curierul românesc in 1829, and the verb itself, as dăzvolta, in Iordache Golescu's Condica of about 1832.^[4] Tiktin has a record of 1799, with the sense “to develop”.^[5]

Semantic evolution

In the first half of the 19th century the reflexive was used of flowers opening and of living things growing: Heliade has „Desvoalte-se orice floare” “let every flower open”, and Negulici's translation has nature developing “their delicate limbs”.^[3] The old present forms with the diphthong, desvoaltă, dezvoaltă, survived until Tiktin's time, beside the modern dezvoltă.^[3][5] Present-day dictionaries add the senses of expanding an idea or theory, of setting out a subject in detail, and of giving off heat or energy.^[2][9] DELR also records a medical use, “to develop (an illness or condition)”, after English, and the sense “to develop a business or software” in the derivative dezvoltator.^[4]

Timeline

• 1789 – the noun dezvoltuire, the first record of the family.^[4]
• 1799 – the verb in the Bertoldo, its first record.^[5]
• 1829 – the long infinitive desvoltare in the Curierul românesc.^[4]
• c. 1832 – dăzvolta in Golescu's Condica.^[4]
• 1851 – desvoltațiune and desvoltație “development” in Stamati's dictionary.^[4]
• 1861 – dezvoltator “developing” in Kogălniceanu.^[4]
• 1949 – autodezvoltare “self-development”.^[4]
• 1960 – subdezvoltare “underdevelopment”, a calque on French and English.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. (reflexive) To develop or evolve: to pass through successive stages towards a higher, more complex state.^[2][9]
2. (reflexive) To expand, gaining in size, importance or strength; to grow.^[2][9]
3. (reflexive, of living beings) To grow physically;^[2][9] (of people) to mature intellectually: Copilul s-a dezvoltat repede.^[2][9]
4. (transitive) To amplify creatively, enrich a doctrine, theory or idea with new ideas or information.^[2][10]
5. (transitive) To set out in detail, elaborate (a subject or argument).^[2][9]
6. (transitive) To produce, give off (heat, energy, a gas).^[2][7]
7. (medicine) To develop (an illness or condition).^[4]

Word family

• autodezvolta
• autodezvoltare
• dezvoltator
• subdezvoltare
• subdezvoltat
• dezvoltare

Related words

• dezvoalbe
• învolta
• învolt

Usage notes

The older spellings desvolta and disvolta and the rare variant dezvolti occur in 19th-century texts.^[4][1]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 310
3. ^ a b c Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. dezvolta
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q 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. dezvolta
5. ^ 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. dezvoltá
6. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. dezvolta
7. ^ a b Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. dezvolta
8. ^ 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
9. ^ a b c d e f Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 702
10. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. dezvolta