nebuni

Forms

nebuni (first-person singular present nebunesc, third-person singular present nebunește, past participle nebunit), 4th conjugation^[1][2]

Etymology

It is formed from Romanian nebun (“mad”) + -i, the adjective with the verb suffix -i.^{[2][3][4][1][5]} The adjective is itself formed on bun “good, sound” with the negative prefix ne-, and bun goes back to Latin bonus (“good”).^[1] DELR and Ciorănescu both list the verb in the family of bun;^[4][6] Ciorănescu gives înnebuni as its variant.^[4][6] The prefixed verb, formed with în-, is the usual one today, and the dictionaries define the simple verb by it.^[7][2][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR dates the verb to 1566, in a print of Coresi, with the senses “to drive out of one's mind” and, reflexive, “to become hostile”.^[4] MDA2's first record is Coresi's Carte de învățătură of 1581, where lust drove the wise Solomon to sacrifice to idols: „Curviia amu pre preamîndru Solomon, spre a idolilor jărtvă, nebuni-l”.^[3][5] In the same book the scribes, unable to understand, „de pizmă topiia-se şi nebuniia” “were wasting away with envy and raging”.^[5]

Semantic evolution

In the old language the verb, often reflexive, meant to grow hostile, to rage, to harden against someone or to rebel: the DLR quotes the New Testament of 1648 and the Bible of 1688.^[5][3] The Slavonic–Romanian lexicons of the 17th century, from Mardarie's of 1649 on, use nebunesc for Slavonic verbs of raving and playing the fool.^[9] The transitive sense “to drive mad” had a moral side as well, to corrupt or to befuddle someone, as in the folk line „Dragostea te nebunește” “love drives you mad”.^[5][3]

Today the simple verb is popular, and the standard language says înnebuni.^[2][10] It survives in the familiar Nu mă nebuni!, said in surprise or disbelief, and in reflexive a se nebuni după “to be crazy about”.^[2][3]

Timeline

• 1566 – first record, in a print of Coresi.^[4]
• 1581 – nebuni-l “drove him mad” in Coresi's Carte de învățătură.^[3][5]
• 1648 – reflexive “to rage against” in the New Testament of 1648.^[5]
• 1649 – nebunesc in Mardarie's Slavonic–Romanian lexicon.^[9]
• 1688 – nebunind and nebunit in the Bucharest Bible.^[11]

Meanings

Verb

1. (popular) To go mad, to lose one's mind;^[2][3][1] (transitive) to drive someone mad.^[2][3][1]
2. (popular, transitive) To corrupt someone morally; to befuddle or fool someone.^[3][5]
3. (familiar, reflexive) a se nebuni după: to be crazy about someone or something.^[3]
4. (obsolete, reflexive) To become hostile or enraged; to rebel.^[3][5]

Related words

• nebun
• înnebuni
• nebunie
• bun

Usage notes

Nu mă nebuni! “don't tell me!” expresses surprise or disbelief at what one hears.^[2] The dictionaries refer the verb to înnebuni, the form used in the standard language.^[8][12]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 697
3. ^ 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. 2, 116
4. ^ a b c d e Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2011–), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române (DELR), vol. I: A–B (2011), vol. II: C (2015–2018), București: Editura Academiei Române; continued online at delr.lingv.ro, p. s.v. nebuni
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. nebuni
6. ^ a b 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. bun
7. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 1242
8. ^ a b Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 3, 181
9. ^ a b 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. nebunesc
10. ^ Ștef, Dorin (2021), Dicționar de regionalisme și arhaisme din județul Maramureș, 3rd ed., Baia Mare, p. s.v. nebuni
11. ^ Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Isaiah 44:25
12. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. nebuni