merinda

Forms

merinda (third-person singular present merindează, past participle merindat) first conjugation^[1] Variants are merenda and the fourth-conjugation merinzi; the first person singular present is merindez.^[2][3]

Etymology

MDA2 and DLR take it as a verb formed from Romanian merindă (“provisions”), the noun better known as merinde.^[3][2][1] Candrea and Densusianu derive it instead from a Latin verb merendō (“to take an afternoon meal”), and Wiktionary gives both views.^[4][1] Both go back to Latin merenda (“a light afternoon meal”), the gerundive of mereō (“to earn”); it was perhaps first the meal given to labourers as part of their pay.^[5][1]

Verbs of the same shape exist south of the Danube: Aromanian mirindu (“to eat in the late afternoon”), which Papahagi derives from Latin, and Megleno-Romanian mirindari (“to take a snack, to rest”).^[6][7] Candrea and Densusianu also give Istro-Romanian merinda and the Romance verbs Italian merendare, Occitan merendar, Catalan berenar, Spanish merendar and Portuguese merendar.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

MDA2's first record is Barcianu's Romanian–German dictionary of 1868, with the senses “to eat at noon” and “to eat in the afternoon”.^[3] DLR also cites Pontbriant's dictionary of 1862 for the sense “to provision”.^[2][8]

Semantic evolution

The intransitive verb meant to have one's midday meal, or a snack in the afternoon, the sense of Latin merenda.^[2][3] From the noun “provisions” the transitive verb means to lay in food, or to supply people with food: a dialect atlas records „merinzim bărbații la munte” “we send food to the men in the mountains”.^[2] The verb is now dated or regional.^[2][1]

Timeline

• 1868 – merinda “to eat at noon; to eat in the afternoon” in Barcianu's dictionary.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. (dated or regional, intransitive) To lunch, to have one's midday meal; to eat in the afternoon.^[2][3][1]
2. (dated or regional, transitive) To lay in food as provisions; to supply people with food.^[2][3]

Related words

• merinde
• Aromanian mirindu

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. merinda
3. ^ 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, 1490
4. ^ a b Candrea, I.-A.; Densusianu, Ov. (1907–1914), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române: elementele latine (A–Putea), București, p. s.v. merinda
5. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 688
7. ^ 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. merindă
8. ^ Pontbriant, Raoul de (1862), Dictiunaru romano-francesu, Bucuresci: A. Ulrich / Göttingen: Dieterich, p. 433