lovi

Forms

lovi (third-person singular present lovește, past participle lovit), 4th conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Old Church Slavonic ловити (loviti, “to hunt, catch, fish”), from Proto-Slavic *loviti (“(to try to) catch”).^{[2][3][4][1][5]} Ciorănescu follows Miklosich, Cihac and Berneker and compares Bulgarian ловя (lovja) “to catch”.^[6] The Slavic verb is formed on *lovъ (“hunt, hunting”).^[1][5] Megleno-Romanian has luves (“to hunt”), a derivative of lov (“game, hunting”).^[7]

The change of meaning from “to hunt” to “to hit” is explained by Șăineanu as a hunting term: striking the game in order to catch it, then striking and hitting the mark in general.^[8] Ciorănescu cites Șăineanu's Semasiologie and Skok for this development.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is in a Slavonic–Romanian Gospel book of 1551–1553, at Matthew 26:68, where Christ is struck.^[9] MDA2's first record is Coresi's homiliary of 1581.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Old Romanian used the verb for armies: “to attack” (Ureche: „lovindu-i noaptea fără veste” “attacking them by night without warning”) and “to march, to head for”, and the reflexive a se lovi meant “to clash, to fight”.^[9][10] Illnesses and feelings were said to strike people: Miron Costin writes that a great death „au lovit” the people.^[9] The reflexive also meant “to border on” and “to match, to agree”, which survives in a se lovi ca nuca-n perete “to fit like a nut against a wall”, i.e. not at all.^[3][6]

Ciorănescu lists lovitură “blow” and loveală as derivatives; he takes loviște from Slavonic ловище (lovište) instead.^[6] In the Olt region loavă means “luck, a lucky chance”.^[6]

Timeline

• 1551–1553 – the first record, in a Slavonic–Romanian Gospel book (Matthew 26:68).^[9]
• 1581 – in Coresi's homiliary.^[4]
• 1589 – in a psalter print of Coresi (Psalm 77:23).^[11]
• 1673 – the participle lovit in a Slavonic–Romanian lexicon.^[12]
• 1688 – about 200 times in the Bucharest Bible, as lovi from Genesis 14:15 on.^[13]

Meanings

Verb

1. To strike with force, to hit; to beat;^[3][4] (figurative) to harm or damage someone's interests.^[3][4]
2. To touch lightly, without violence.^[3]
3. (reflexive) To bump into an obstacle;^[3][4] (figurative) to meet difficulties: a se lovi cu capul de pragul de sus “to learn from misfortune”.^[3][4]
4. To hit a target with a projectile or an arrow: a lovi cuiul în cap “to hit the nail on the head”.^[3][4]
5. Of illnesses or states of mind, to come over someone suddenly, to seize.^[3][4]
6. (obsolete, reflexive) Of lands, to border on each other; to resemble, to match: a se lovi ca nuca-n perete “to be quite out of place”.^[3]
7. (obsolete) To attack;^[3][4] (reflexive) to fight.^[3][4]

Word family

• loavă
• loveală
• lovitură

Related words

• Old Church Slavonic ловити (loviti)

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. lovi
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 601
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 1394
5. ^ a b Derksen, Rick (2008), Etymological Dictionary of the Slavic Inherited Lexicon, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 4, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 286
6. ^ a b c d e 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. lovi
7. ^ Capidan, Theodor (1935), Meglenoromânii III: Dicționar meglenoromân, București: Academia Română, p. 173
8. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 1, 370
9. ^ a b c d Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. loví
10. ^ Costinescu, Mariana; Georgescu, Magdalena; Zgraon, Florentina (1987), Dicționarul limbii române literare vechi (1640–1780): termeni regionali, București: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică, p. 1, 171
11. ^ Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Ungureanu, Mădălina; Moruz, Alexandru et al., roPsalt: Re-evaluating the Sixteenth Century Romanian Psalters (aligned corpus), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. Ps 77:23
12. ^ 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. lovit
13. ^ Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Gn 14:15