face

Forms

face (third-person singular present face, past participle făcut, third-person subjunctive facă), 3rd conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin faciō (“to make, to do”).^[2][3][1] It survives in all four branches: Aromanian fac, Megleno-Romanian fac and Istro-Romanian facu.^[2][4][5] Its Romance cognates include Italian fare, French faire, Spanish hacer and Portuguese fazer.^[2][6]

The old past participle fapt, from factus, was replaced by the analogical făcut, and some dialects had a third-person perfect ⟨fece⟩ from fēcit.^[1] Candrea and Densusianu note that the participle ⟨fapt⟩ survives in folk poetry, usually in rhyme, and that the perfect ⟨feci⟩ is still heard in Transylvania.^[6] Wiktionary takes the sense “to cost” to be probably a calque of Modern Greek κάνω (káno).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The verb is attested in the Hurmuzaki Psalter of the early 16th century, from the third verse of Psalm 1 on.^[7] Tiktin's first record is the Psaltirea Scheiană, also of the 16th century, and MDA2's Coresi's psalter of 1577.^[8][3]

Semantic evolution

Ciorănescu lists more than forty senses, from “to make, produce” and “to build” to “to give birth”, “to bear fruit”, “to commit”, “to bewitch” and “to head for”.^[2] He notes that “to give birth” is found in several Italian dialects as well.^[2] Candrea and Densusianu compare the sense “to cast a spell” with Serbian tvoriti, which also means both “to make” and “to bewitch”; the noun făcătură “spell” belongs here.^[6][2]

The reflexive a se face means “to become” and “to pretend”.^[9] Old forms recorded by MDA2 include the perfects feci and feace and an old participle fapt.^[3] Derivatives are facere, făcător (now only in binefăcător and răufăcător), desface and preface.^[2]

Timeline

• early 16th century – in the Hurmuzaki Psalter.^[7]
• 16th century – in the Psaltirea Scheiană.^[8]
• 1577 – in Coresi's psalter, MDA2's first record.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. To make, produce or build an object: Și-au făcut o casă.^[9][1]
2. To cook or prepare food; to write or create a work.^[9]
3. To give birth; of animals, to bear young; of plants, to bear fruit.^[9]
4. To catch an illness or get a growth: A făcut gripă.^[9]
5. To cause, make or force someone to do something: Ploaia îl face morocănos.^[9]
6. To turn into, change into: L-au făcut om de treabă.^[9]
7. To do, carry out, commit: A făcut o greșeală.;^[9][1] Ce faci? “how are you?”^[9][1]
8. To be worth, to cost: Cât face cartea?^[9]
9. (reflexive) To become: S-a făcut medic.^[9]
10. (reflexive) To pretend: Se face că doarme.^[9]

Word family

• facere
• făcaș
• făcător
• binefăcător
• răufăcător
• făcătură
• făcut
• preface
• prefăcătorie
• prefăcut
• reface
• desface

Related words

• fapt
• faptă
• Aromanian fac
• Latin faciō

Usage notes

Common expressions include a face din țânțar armăsar “to make a mountain out of a molehill” and a face noaptea zi “to stay up all night”.^[9]

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 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. face
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, 869
4. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 446
5. ^ Saramandu, Nicolae (coord.) et al. (2010–), Dicționarul dialectului meglenoromân, general și etimologic, fascicles in Fonetică și dialectologie XXIX–, p. 149
6. ^ a b c Candrea, I.-A.; Densusianu, Ov. (1907–1914), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române: elementele latine (A–Putea), București, p. s.v. face
7. ^ a b Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Ungureanu, Mădălina; Moruz, Alexandru et al., roPsalt: Re-evaluating the Sixteenth Century Romanian Psalters (aligned corpus), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. Ps 1:3
8. ^ a b Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. face
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 377