exista

Forms

exista (third-person singular present există, past participle existat), first conjugation^[1] The earliest form DELR records is existălui, in Vârnav's text of 1825, beside existelui;^[1] exista itself follows about 1832 in Iordache Golescu.^[2] The 19th century also spelled it ecsista and esista: „În toată Europa stăpânește o slobozenie care până astăzi n-a mai ecsistat” “throughout Europe there reigns a freedom that has never existed until today” (1848).^[3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French exister, with the learned Latin existō beside it: DELR, DEX, DLR and MDA2 all give both sources.^[2][4][3][5] The Latin verb, also spelled exsistō, meant “to rise, step out; to appear; to exist”, and is formed of ex- (“out of”) and sistō (“to stop, to set”), a verb from the root of stō (“to stand”).^[2][1] The French verb is itself from the same Latin word.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is a present-tense form in an economic document of 1819: „Există 34 cumpaniști” “there are 34 members of the company”.^[3] DELR's first dated forms are existălui and existelui in 1825 and exista about 1832, and MDA2's first record is a notebook of 1842.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

The verb came in with the French and Latin vocabulary of the early 19th century, and the first texts show it in many spellings (ecsista, esista, ezista) and with the Greek-style endings of existălui and existarisi.^[2][3] Its meaning has stayed close to the source: to be, to be found in reality, and by extension to live and to show itself.^[4][3] MDA2 adds the senses “to last” and “to count, to matter”, and the negative exclamation nu există! “that's impossible!”.^[5]

A family of learned words followed: existență is recorded from 1818, coexistență about 1832, coexista from 1840 and existent from 1846.^[2]

Timeline

• 1818 – existență “existence”.^[2]
• 1819 – există “there are” in an economic document, the first record of the verb.^[3]
• 1825 – existălui and existelui in Vârnav.^[2]
• c. 1832 – exista in Iordache Golescu.^[2]
• 1840 – coexista “to coexist”.^[2]
• 1842 – first record in MDA2, in a notebook of lectures on natural history.^[5]
• 1846 – existent “existing”.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To exist, to be; to be found in reality.^[4][5]
2. To be found somewhere, to be present: În oraș există două teatre.^[5][6]
3. To be alive, to live; to show itself.^[4][6]
4. (often impersonal, in negative sentences) To be possible;^[7] nu există! “that's out of the question!”.^[5]
5. To last; to count, to matter.^[5]

Word family

• coexista
• coexistent
• coexistență
• existent
• existență
• existențial
• existențialism
• inexistent
• inexistență
• preexista
• preexistent
• preexistență

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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. exista
3. ^ a b c d e f Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. exista
4. ^ a b c d DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 370
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 857
6. ^ a b Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. exista
7. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. oră