dinainte

Etymology

It is formed from Romanian de + înainte (“before, in front”).^{[1][2][3][4][5]} The opposite, dinapoi, is formed the same way.^[3] The Buda Lexicon of 1825 compared Spanish delante, a view of its time.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to about 1540, from the Romanian words in Slavonic–Romanian documents.^[2] In 1649 it appears in Mardarie's Slavonic–Romanian lexicon.^[7] MDA2 cites Negruzzi's writings, in the edition of 1872, as its first record.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The word has a sense of place, “in front”, and a sense of time, “before, beforehand”.^[1][3] With the genitive, as dinaintea, it serves as a preposition: dinaintea casei “in front of the house”.^[8][9] As a noun, dinaintea is the front half of an animal's or a person's body, and Tiktin records the plural dinainți for the front of a garment.^[1][2] Expressions include a-l lua gura pe dinainte “to let slip what one did not mean to say” and a nu-i trece cuiva pe dinainte “to hold someone in great respect”.^[1][4] In slang dinainte means “from the communist years”, before December 1989.^[10]

Timeline

• c. 1540 – first record, in a Slavonic–Romanian document.^[2]
• 1649 – in Mardarie's Slavonic–Romanian lexicon.^[7]
• 1825 – in the Buda Lexicon, with Latin ab ante and coram.^[6]
• 1872 – dinainte “in front” in Negruzzi's writings.^[4][3]

Meanings

Adverb

1. (of place) In front, ahead;^[1][5] de dinainte “at the front”: rândul dinainte “the front row”.^[1][5]
2. (of time) before, earlier; in advance, ahead of time: a pregăti ceva dinainte.^[1][5]
3. (with the genitive, as dinaintea) In front of; before.^[8][9]
4. (as a noun, dinaintea) The front half of the body of an animal or a person.^[1][4]

Word family

• dinaintea

Related words

• înainte
• dinapoi

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 315
2. ^ 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. dinaínte
3. ^ a b c d Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. dinainte
4. ^ a b c d e Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 717
5. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
6. ^ a b Lesicon românescu-latinescu-ungurescu-nemțescu quare de mai mulți autori, în cursul a trideci și mai multor ani s-au lucrat (1825), Buda: Typographia Universității (the Lexicon of Buda, ed. Petru Maior et al.), p. 189
7. ^ a b Ungureanu, Mădălina; Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Moruz, Alexandru (eds.), eRomLex: The First Romanian Bilingual Dictionaries (17th century), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. s.v. dinainte
8. ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1, 427
9. ^ a b Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. dinainte
10. ^ Volceanov, George (2007), Dicționar de argou al limbii române, București: Niculescu, p. s.v. dinainte