interesa

Forms

interesa (third-person singular present interesează, past participle interesat) 1st conjugation^[1] Older forms had other verb endings: înterisa, interisi, interisarisi, întreresirui.^[2][3] A text written in Sibiu before 1821 has înterisește: „Pe mine nu mă prea înteriseaşte minciunile ceale multe” “the many lies do not much interest me”.^[4][3] Tiktin quotes the reflexive in -ui: „Se va întreresirui în cât își va putea” “he will take an interest as far as he can”.^[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French intéresser and Italian interessare, as DEX, MDA2, MDN and Tiktin give it.^[5][3][2][6] Marcu and Maneca put the Italian verb first and compare the French one,^[7] the Academy dictionary takes it as formed after French,^[4] and NODEX adds German interessieren.^[8] The French verb is formed on intérêt (“interest”),^[1] and the Italian one, recorded from the 16th century, on interesse.^[1][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is of 1779.^[2] MDA2 and DA date it to a text from Sibiu of before 1821, where it means “to concern, to hold one's interest”.^[3][4]

Semantic evolution

Besides “to concern, to arouse someone's curiosity”, the verb meant early on “to give someone a share in a business or its profit”.^[4][3] The reflexive a se interesa came to mean “to take an interest, to care for” and “to inquire, to try to find out”;^[2][5] Tiktin glosses it with German sich erkundigen.^[2][5] The question Ce te interesează? “what is it to you?” is a familiar expression.^[5][3]

Timeline

• 1779 – first record.^[2]
• before 1821 – înterisește in a text from Sibiu.^[4][3]
• 1875 – glossed with French intéresser and s'intéresser in Antonescu's dictionary.^[10]
• 1893–1895 – the modern present interesez in Damé's dictionary.^[11]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To interest: to arouse someone's interest or hold their attention.^[5][3]
2. (transitive) To give someone a share in an undertaking or a gain.^[5][3]
3. (reflexive, with de, rarely la) To take an interest in, to care for someone or something.^[5][3]
4. (reflexive) To inquire, to try to find out: s-a interesat de preț “he asked about the price”.^[5][3]

Related words

• interes
• interesant
• French intéresser

Usage notes

Ce te interesează? means “what does it matter to you?, what's it to you?”.^[5][3]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. interesá
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 1148
4. ^ a b c d e 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. interesa
5. ^ 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. 515
6. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. interesa
7. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. interesa
8. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. interesa
9. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier, p. s.v. interessare
10. ^ Antonescu, G. M. (1875), Dictionariu romanu-francesu, Bucuresci: Typografia Curții (Lucrători Associați), p. 148
11. ^ Damé, Frédéric (1893–1895), Nouveau dictionnaire roumain-français, 4 vols., Bucarest: Imprimerie de l'État, p. s.v. interesa