iertare

Forms

iertare f (plural iertări)^[1]

Etymology

It is from Romanian ierta + -re, the long infinitive of the verb used as a noun.^[2][3][4][1] The verb is inherited from Latin lībertō (“to set free”), a word kept in Romanian alone among the Romance languages, and survives south of the Danube: Aromanian ljert and Megleno-Romanian l'ert.^[5][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to about 1560, in the Bratu manuscript.^[4] The 17th-century Slavonic–Romanian lexicons use it from 1664 to render Slavonic words for “forgiveness”, “mercy” and “remission”.^[6] MDA2's first record is later, a Menaion of 1776.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The old senses follow those of the verb, which first meant “to set free”: release from slavery, exemption from military service, the remission of part of a debt, a dispensation from a duty or an oath.^[2] The Church phrase iertarea păcatelor “the remission of sins” was common, and the commercial code of 1840 still speaks of iertarea vârstei, a dispensation from the legal age.^[4] The modern senses are forgiveness and excuse: a cere iertare “to ask forgiveness, to apologise”.^[3][7] The older synonym iertăciune has the same senses.^[3][2]

Timeline

• c. 1560 – the first record.^[4]
• 1664 – in a Slavonic–Romanian lexicon.^[6]
• 1688 – fourteen occurrences in the Bucharest Bible, for example Leviticus 25:10.^[8]
• 1776 – a Menaion, MDA2's first record.^[2]
• 1825 – mă rog de iertare “I beg your pardon” in the Lexicon of Buda.^[9]
• 1840 – iertarea vârstei “dispensation from age” in the commercial code.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. forgiveness, pardon: the act of forgiving and its result.^[3][1]
2. An excuse, an apology: a cere iertare “to apologise”.^[3][7]
3. (obsolete) Release from slavery; exemption from a duty, an oath or a debt.^[2]

Related words

• iertăciune

Usage notes

Să avem iertare! means “excuse us!” and also “I don't think you are right!”.^[3][7] Scriban and Șăineanu also record Iertare! used alone as an exclamation, “pardon me!”.^[10][11]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 1108
3. ^ a b c d e f DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 488
4. ^ a b c d e Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. iertare
5. ^ 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. ierta
6. ^ 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. iertare
7. ^ a b c Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. iertare
8. ^ Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Leviticus 25:10
9. ^ 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. 271
10. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 618
11. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 303