liniști

Forms

liniști (third-person singular present liniștește, past participle liniștit), 4th conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Romanian liniște + -i, the base meaning “quiet, calm”.^{[2][3][4][5][1]} The noun is itself a Romanian derivative of lin “gentle, calm” with the suffix -iște, recorded from 1632.^[2][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Dosoftei's Viața și petrecerea sfinților (Iași, 1682–1686).^[3] Tiktin dates it from 1793, from Ienăchiță Văcărescu, who writes the prefixed form înliniști: „până a nu se înliniști mai sus zisele turburări” “before the troubles mentioned above had calmed down”.^[5][4]

Semantic evolution

The verb was first used of storms and other forces of nature: in Drăghici the air began a se linişti as the waves calmed and the thunder stopped, and in folk verse the wind se liniștește “dies down”.^[7] Used of people it means “to calm down, be reassured” and transitively “to soothe, reassure”, as in Negruzzi, Eminescu and Ispirescu.^[4][8] Church language used the reflexive for withdrawing from the world into a life of prayer.^[3]

The old form înliniști survived into the early 19th century, and the negative neliniști “to disturb, worry” and the noun liniștire “calming” were formed from the verb.^[5][4]

Timeline

• 1682–1686 – liniști in Dosoftei's lives of the saints, the first record.^[3]
• 1793 – înliniști in Ienăchiță Văcărescu.^[5]
• 1813 – înliniști in a document.^[5]
• 1931 – the CADE records the transitive “to quiet, soothe” and the reflexive.^[9]

Meanings

Verb

1. (reflexive and transitive) To fall silent or make quiet; of an intense action or process, to stop or make stop; to calm down, soothe: Marea s-a liniștit spre seară.^[2][7]
2. (reflexive and transitive) To become or make free of worries and agitation; to reassure.^[2][3]
3. (reflexive, religion) To withdraw from the world to a life of prayer.^[3]

Word family

• neliniști
• liniștire
• liniștitor

Related words

• liniște
• lin

Usage notes

An old variant is leniști.^[3] The noun liniște has a rare plural of the same form, liniști.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 594
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 1373
4. ^ a b c d 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. liniști
5. ^ 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. liniști
6. ^ Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. liniște
7. ^ a b Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. liniști
8. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 2, 765
9. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. liniști