odihni

Forms

odihni (third-person singular present odihnește, past participle odihnit) 4th conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Bulgarian отдихна (otdihna, “to rest”).^[2][3][4][1] Ciorănescu, after Miklosich and Cihac, derives it from Old Church Slavonic отъдъхнѫти (otŭdŭxnǫti, “to breathe”) and compares duhni;^[1] Tiktin names the Church Slavonic verb too.^[5][6] Wiktionary compares Russian отдыхать (otdyxatʹ, “to rest”).^[1]

Besides the literary form, the DLR records the popular hodini, the regional odini, odicni, odigni, hodigni and hudini, and the rare odehni and odeni.^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is from 1561, and MDA2 cites a Coresi print of 1564, a fragment of a deacon's service book.^[6][3] The sense was “to rest, to cease from work”: the DLR quotes Moxa on God, who „a şaptea zi odihni de toate” “on the seventh day rested from everything”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The first sense is to stop working for a while to recover one's strength.^[4][2] From it came “to sleep” and the religious sense “to lie dead, rest in the grave”, with the formula Dumnezeu să-l odihnească “God rest him”.^[4][3][7] Used transitively, the verb means to let someone rest and, by extension, to shelter or lodge them.^[4][6] Old senses include “to calm down”, and old texts say of land that it rests when it lies fallow for a year.^[3][4] The reflexive also means “to lean on” something, and figuratively “to lie, be situated” somewhere.^[4]

The 17th-century Slavonic–Romanian lexicons gloss Slavonic почиваю and отпочину with forms of the verb.^[8] The 1688 Bucharest Bible has it in its account of the seventh day of creation.^[9]

Timeline

• 1561 – the first record.^[6]
• 1564 – in a Coresi print, a deacon's service book.^[3]
• 1649 – odihnesc in Mardarie's Slavonic–Romanian lexicon, glossing почиваю “I rest”.^[10]
• 1688 – in the Bucharest Bible.^[9]

Meanings

Verb

1. (reflexive, rarely intransitive) To rest: to stop an activity for a while to recover one's strength; to be at rest.^[4][3]
2. (transitive) To let someone or something rest; to give rest to; by extension, to shelter, lodge.^[4][3]
3. (reflexive, rarely intransitive) To recover through sleep; to sleep.^[4][1]
4. (intransitive and reflexive) To be dead, to lie in the grave;^[1] Dumnezeu să-l odihnească “God rest his soul”.^[4][1]
5. (reflexive, obsolete) To calm down, to grow quiet.^[4][3]
6. (reflexive and transitive) To lean, to rest on something.^[4]
7. (reflexive and intransitive, figurative) To lie, to be situated somewhere.^[4]

Word family

• odihnă
• odihneală
• odihnitor

Usage notes

Pe odihnit or pe odihnite means “after a rest, without tiredness” and “in peace, at leisure”.^[4]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. odihní
3. ^ 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, 196
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 735
5. ^ 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. odihni
6. ^ 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. odihní
7. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească
8. ^ 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. odihni
9. ^ a b Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Gen 2:2
10. ^ 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. odihnesc