ocupa

Forms

ocupa (third-person singular present ocupă, past participle ocupat, third-person subjunctive ocupe), 1st conjugation^[1] An older present ocupez is recorded beside ocup: „la datoriile postului ce ocupează” “in the duties of the post he holds” (Buletin, 1840).^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin occupō (“to seize, take possession of”), a 19th-century neologism with French occuper as a second model, as the Romanian dictionaries say.^[2][4][5] Tiktin and the dictionaries of neologisms also name Italian occupare.^[5][6] The Latin verb is formed on ob- and the root of capiō (“to take, seize”).^[1]

Wiktionary compares the inherited verb apuca, which may be a doublet of it.^[1] The REW, however, derives it from a different etymon.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin and MDA2 date the first record to 1794, in a calendar.^[5][2] Early uses refer to the seizing of a territory: in 1829 the Curierul Românesc wrote that the United States would occupy the province of Texas without any formality, „vor ocupa provincia Texas”.^[3]

Semantic evolution

From military seizure the verb spread to holding a post, a dwelling or a seat; the 1833 Curierul Românesc speaks of candidates who come forward „pentru a ocupa postul vacant” “to fill the vacant post”.^[3] Negulici's dictionary of 1848 already gives the senses “to fill (a space or a time)”, “to live in (a house)”, “to hold a post” and the reflexive “to busy oneself, to work”.^[8] Pontbriant (1862) adds holding several posts at once and the reflexive a se ocupa de cineva “to look after someone, to find him a post”.^[9]

The reflexive a se ocupa “to work in a field; to take care of, deal with” is now one of the commonest uses.^[4][1] Romanian formed ocupare and ocupator on the verb.^[1]

Timeline

• 1794 – the first record, in a calendar.^[5][2]
• 1829 – „vor ocupa provincia Texas” in the Curierul Românesc.^[3]
• 1833 – „a ocupa postul vacant” “to fill the vacant post”.^[3]
• 1840 – the older present form ocupează “he holds” (a post).^[3]
• 1848 – listed by Negulici among the neologisms, with the reflexive sense “to busy oneself”.^[8]

Meanings

Verb

1. To occupy a territory or a town by armed force; to conquer.^[4][2]
2. To take (for a time) and use a building or a dwelling; to cover an area or be placed somewhere; to keep or reserve a seat: Ocupă-mi și mie un loc.^[4][2]
3. To hold a post or an office;^[4][2] (figurative) to hold a place in a hierarchy.^[4][2]
4. (reflexive) To work in a field, to have as one's occupation;^[4][10] (with de) to devote oneself to something for a time.^[4][10]
5. (reflexive) To take care of someone or something, to deal with it: Mă ocup eu de copii.^[4][1]
6. (obsolete, transitive) To preoccupy, to absorb someone's mind.^[4][2]

Word family

• ocupare
• ocupator

Related words

• ocupație
• preocupa
• Latin occupō

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 194
3. ^ a b c d e f Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. ocupa
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 734
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. ocupá
6. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. ocupa
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 6031
8. ^ a b Negulici, I. D. (1848), Vocabular romînesc de toate vorbele streine întroduse pînă acum în limba romînească și de toate cuvintele ce s-ar mai putea introduce încă, București, p. s.v. occupare
9. ^ Pontbriant, Raoul de (1862), Dictiunaru romano-francesu, Bucuresci: A. Ulrich / Göttingen: Dieterich, p. 505
10. ^ a b Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. ocupa