găsi

Forms

găsi (third-person singular present găsește, past participle găsit) 4th conjugation^[1]

Etymology

Its origin is uncertain; the DA and Wiktionary call it unknown.^[2][1] It may be borrowed from Old Church Slavonic гасити (gasiti, “to extinguish”), which MDA2 gives as the etymon and DEX compares: the forms match, but the meanings are far apart.^[3][4][2] Ciorănescu accepts the Slavonic verb, after the DA and Pușcariu.^[5]

To bridge the meanings, the DA compares afla “to find”, which originally meant “to blow on”: in the oldest example, in the Codicele Voronețean, ships are “found” by a strong wind, which the DA reads as “blown”, as the Bibles of 1648 and 1688 render the passage.^[2] Ciorănescu likewise suggests a first sense “to put out by blowing” or “to blow”, and also allows a confusion with десити (desiti, “to find, to encounter”).^[5] The Slavonic verb belongs to Proto-Slavic *gasiti (“to extinguish”), whose cognates, such as Lithuanian gesýti and Ancient Greek σβέννυμι (sbénnumi), all mean “to put out”.^[6][1]

Ciorănescu rejects Skok's chain “to extinguish” > “to quench thirst” > “to find”, Cihac's Albanian gjëig (“I find out”), Weigand's Serbo-Croatian gaziti (“to wade”) and Gamillscheg's Gepidic source.^[5][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to the Codicele Voronețean (c. 1563–1583), in James 3:4.^[7] The DA quotes this passage, where the ships are „de izaclean vânt găsite”, “driven by a fierce wind”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The verb is rare in the old texts: the DA notes that it slowly gained ground on the older afla, took over its sense “to find” and left it only “to learn, to find out”.^[2] The Bucharest Bible of 1688 uses it only a few times.^[8] A Gospel text of 1693 has „veți găsi un mânz legat” “you will find a colt tied”.^[2]

Other senses grew from “to find”: of illness or death, to seize someone; reflexive, to be found somewhere, to be; and “to find, to consider (that)”.^[4][7] Many expressions use it: a-și găsi nașul “to meet one's match”, ți-ai găsit! “no way!”, a găsit orbul Brăila “he got it right at last”.^[4][3] Romanian formed găsitură “find” and, in modern times, găselniță “clever idea, stylistic trick”.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 1563–1583 – the first record, in the Codicele Voronețean.^[7][2]
• 1688 – găsiră “they found” in the Bucharest Bible.^[8]
• 1693 – veți găsi “you will find” in a Gospel text.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) to find, to come upon by chance or by searching; to discover a new method or device.^[4][3]
2. (transitive and reflexive) to meet someone;^[4] Să te găsesc sănătos!, a farewell formula.^[4]
3. (transitive, of illness or death) to seize, to overtake someone suddenly: Ce te-a găsit? “what has come over you?”^[4]
4. (reflexive) to be located, to be; to be in a certain situation.^[4]
5. (transitive) to consider, to think that: Găsesc că ai dreptate.^[4]

Word family

• găsitură
• găselniță

Related words

• afla
• Old Church Slavonic гасити (gasiti)

Usage notes

Copil găsit is a foundling.^[2] A găsi de cuviință means “to see fit”.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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. găsi
3. ^ a b c Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 972
4. ^ 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. 429
5. ^ a b c d 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. găsi
6. ^ Derksen, Rick (2008), Etymological Dictionary of the Slavic Inherited Lexicon, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 4, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 161
7. ^ a b c Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. găsi
8. ^ a b Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Ieșirea 16:27