nerăbdător

Forms

nerăbdător m or n (feminine singular nerăbdătoare, masculine plural nerăbdători, feminine/neuter plural nerăbdătoare)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Romanian ne- + răbdător (“patient”), the negative of răbdător.^{[2][3][4][1][5]}

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is of 1642.^[5] Ion Neculce's chronicle (c. 1743), MDA2's first record, uses the old form nerăbdătoriu of a ruler: „era atunce nerăbdătoriu și mânios” “he was then impatient and quick to anger”.^[3][4][5]

Semantic evolution

The first sense was “impatient, unable to restrain oneself”, and in old texts also “intolerant, without forbearance”.^[3][4] From lacking patience the word came to mean “nervous, irritable”, and above all “eager”, of someone who waits with excitement for something or longs to do it, as in nerăbdător să plece “eager to leave”.^[2][6] Șăineanu defined it both as “lacking patience” and as “unable to bear something”.^[7]

Timeline

• 1642 – the first record Tiktin cites.^[5]
• c. 1743 – nerăbdătoriu “impatient” in Neculce's chronicle.^[3][4]
• 1939 – Scriban adds the sense “eager”.^[6]

Meanings

Adjective

1. impatient; by extension unable to restrain oneself, irritable, nervous.^[2][3][1]
2. eager, anxious to do or finish something, waiting keenly for something or someone: Copiii sunt nerăbdători să deschidă cadourile. “The children are eager to open the presents.”^[2]
3. Showing impatience: un gest nerăbdător “an impatient gesture”.^[2]
4. (obsolete) intolerant, without forbearance.^[3][4]

Related words

• nerăbdare
• răbdare

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 710
3. ^ a b c d e f Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 141
4. ^ a b c d e Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. nerăbdător
5. ^ 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. nerăbdătór
6. ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 867
7. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 1, 428