invita

Forms

invita (third-person singular present invită, past participle invitat, third-person subjunctive invite), 1st conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French inviter (“to invite”), which DEX, DILF and MDN give together with Latin invītō (“to invite”).^[2][3][4] MDA2 names French and Italian invitare instead, DN all three, and Tiktin the Italian verb alone.^[5][6][7] The French verb was borrowed in the 14th century from the Latin one, whose origin is unknown; it has been compared with invītus (“unwilling”).^[8]

Romanian had already inherited the Latin verb as învita “to urge, incite”, recorded from 1561 in Coresi's Tetraevanghel; the neologism has replaced its doublet almost completely, and the old verb lives on only in some regions.^{[9][10][11][1]} The REW lists Aromanian invita among the inherited forms; in most Romance languages the descendants of the Latin verb mean “to challenge, to bid”, a sense that grew up in gaming, as in Old French envier and Spanish envidar.^[12][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record of invita to 1829.^[7] Negulici's dictionary of neologisms of 1848 has it under the Latinist form invitare, “to ask someone to be present or to go somewhere, to a meal, to a ball”.^[13] MDA2's first record is in Constantin Negruzzi's collected writings of 1872.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The basic sense, asking someone politely to come or to take part, widened to calling a meeting and to asking someone to a meal or a party.^[5][2] Early 20th-century dictionaries add a gentler sense, “to urge, encourage”, also with a thing as subject, as French has it.^[14][15] A firm, formal order, “to summon (someone to do something)”, is the sense DEX and NODEX record last.^[2][16]

Timeline

• 1829 – the first record of the verb.^[7]
• 1848 – invitare in Negulici's dictionary of neologisms.^[13]
• 1872 – Negruzzi's writings, MDA2's first record.^[5]
• 1893 – Damé glosses it with French inviter.^[17]
• 1931 – CADE marks it as French and records “to urge, encourage”.^[15]

Meanings

Verb

1. To invite: to ask someone politely to come somewhere or to take part in something: Ne-au invitat la nunta lor.^[2][5][1]
2. To convene, to call to a meeting.^[2][5]
3. To ask someone to a meal, a party and the like.^[5]
4. Of things: to tempt, to encourage: Soarele ne invită afară.^[15][14]
5. To summon, to order someone firmly to do something: Vă invit să părăsiți sala.^[2][16]

Word family

• invitat

Related words

• învita
• invitație
• French inviter

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 521
3. ^ Costăchescu, Adriana; Dincă, Daniela; Dragoste, Ramona; Popescu, Mihaela; Scurtu, Gabriela (2009–2010), Dicționar de împrumuturi lexicale din limba franceză (DILF), 2 vols., Craiova: Universitaria, p. s.v. invita
4. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. invita
5. ^ a b c d e f g Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 1159
6. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. invita
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. invitá
8. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ 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. învita
10. ^ Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. învitá
11. ^ a b 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. învita
12. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
13. ^ a b Negulici, I. D. (1848), Vocabular romînesc de toate vorbele streine întroduse pînă acum în limba romînească și de toate cuvintele ce s-ar mai putea introduce încă, București, p. s.v. invitare
14. ^ a b Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 340
15. ^ a b c Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. invita
16. ^ a b Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. invita
17. ^ Damé, Frédéric (1893–1895), Nouveau dictionnaire roumain-français, 4 vols., Bucarest: Imprimerie de l'État, p. s.v. invita