gând

Forms

gând n (plural gânduri)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Hungarian gond (“care, worry”).^{[2][3][4][5][1]} The DA says only that it comes from a word of the same origin as the Hungarian one.^[6] The Hungarian word is recorded from about 1372 with the sense of a worrying thought, care, and with the sense of thought from 1525;^[7][3] Tamás notes that its own origin is unclear.^[7][3]

Pușcariu took the change of /o/ to /ɨ/ as proof that the word came through Slavic, and Rosetti considered Bulgarian mediation;^[3] Tamás rejects this, since /o/ before a nasal kept turning into /ɨ/ in Romanian for a long time.^[3] The verb gândi is formed in Romanian on the noun, while Ciorănescu takes a rare Moldavian verb of the same meaning straight from Hungarian gondolni (“to think”).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Psaltirea Hurmuzaki (early 16th century) has the plural gândurile “the thoughts” at Psalms 39:7 and 93:11.^[8] Tiktin cites the Codicele Voronețean (c. 1563–1583), at Acts 24:16.^[9] Ciorănescu dates the word only to the 17th century.^[2]

Semantic evolution

From the start the word rendered the thoughts and plans of the Psalter, and the 17th-century Slavonic–Romanian lexicons use it for Slavonic мысль “thought”.^[8][10] Beside thought and idea it came to mean imagination, the mind as the seat of thought, intention and care.^[2][5] Many expressions rest on it: a sta pe gânduri “to ponder, to hesitate”, a avea de gând “to intend”, ca gândul “in a flash”.^[11][5] Its derivatives include gândire “thinking”, gânditor “pensive; thinker” and îngândura “to make anxious”.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1500–1520 – gândurile in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki.^[12]
• c. 1563–1583 – in the Codicele Voronețean (Acts 24:16).^[9]
• 1660 – glosses Slavonic мысль “thought” in a Slavonic–Romanian lexicon.^[10]
• 1688 – frequent in the Bucharest Bible.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. A thought, idea; the process or result of thinking: Avea multe gânduri în minte.^[5][1]
2. imagination, fancy; inspiration.^[5][1]
3. The mind or memory, as the seat of thought: Nu-mi iese din gând.^[5]
4. An intention, a plan: a veni cu gând rău.^[5][11]

Word family

• gândire
• gândi
• gânditor
• îngândura
• negândire

Usage notes

Common phrases: a sta pe gânduri “to hesitate”, a pune pe gânduri “to worry someone”, a avea de gând să “to intend to”, a-i trece prin gând “to occur to someone”.^[5][11][4]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e 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. gând
3. ^ a b c d e Tamás, Lajos (1966), Etymologisch-historisches Wörterbuch der ungarischen Elemente im Rumänischen, Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, p. 386
4. ^ a b Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 976
5. ^ 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. 430
6. ^ Academia Română (1913–1949), Dicționarul limbii române (DA), ed. Sextil Pușcariu, tom I (A–B, C, D–De) and tom II (F–I, J–Lojniță), București: Socec / Universul / Monitorul Oficial și Imprimeriile Statului; page scans at cflr-scans.solirom.ro, p. s.v. gând
7. ^ a b Benkő, Loránd (ed.) (1967–1976), A magyar nyelv történeti-etimológiai szótára, 3 vols., Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, p. 1, 1074
8. ^ 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 93:11
9. ^ 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. gând
10. ^ 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. gândul
11. ^ a b c Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 560
12. ^ 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 39:7
13. ^ Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Exodus 30:12