oferi

Forms

oferi (third-person singular present oferă, past participle oferit, third-person subjunctive ofere) 4th conjugation^[1] An older variant of the first conjugation, ofera, occurs in a calendar of 1862: „Mi s-au oferat ospitalitatea chiar în tabăra lor” “I was offered hospitality right in their camp”.^[2][3] The 19th century also spelled it with a double f: „Va veni poate o zi când voi avea trebuință de toate câte îmi offeri” “a day may come when I shall need all that you offer me”.^[2] MDA2 records an old present oferesc beside ofer.^[4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Italian offerire (“to offer”), according to Tiktin, DEX and Wiktionary.^[3][5][1] Other dictionaries name several sources at once, the multiple etymology usual for neologisms: MDA2 and the DLR give the Latin verb offerō (“to bring before, offer”), the Italian one and French offrir.^[4][2] Ciorănescu names the Latin and the French verb;^[6][7][8] Marcu & Maneca give Latin with French as a comparison, Marcu Latin and Italian.^[6][7][8] Ciorănescu, the DLR and the CADE add that the verb took the fourth conjugation after suferi, like referi and conferi.^[6][2][9]

The Latin verb is made of ob- (“towards”) and ferō (“to carry”).^[1][10] The Italian verb is an old variant of offrire, recorded from the 12th–13th century.^[11][12] Italian and French continue Vulgar Latin *offeriō, an altered form of the Latin verb.^[13][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to 1831, in the works of Ion Heliade-Rădulescu;^[3][4][2] MDA2 and the DLR cite the same passage.^[3][4][2] Negulici's dictionary of neologisms (1848) lists it as oferire with the senses “to present, to give, to offer as a gift”.^[14]

Semantic evolution

The first sense is to offer someone something unasked, as a mark of attention, a gift or a service; reflexive a se oferi “to offer oneself, to volunteer”.^[2][5] Commerce gave “to offer for sale” and “to bid a price”, quoted in the DLR from the late 19th century on.^[2] A figurative sense, “to present to the eye or the mind” (a landscape offers a view), is in Șăineanu and the CADE.^[15][9] MDA2 also records the reflexive “to give oneself physically to someone”.^[4]

Timeline

• 1831 – first record, in Heliade-Rădulescu.^[3][4]
• 1848 – oferire in Negulici's dictionary of neologisms.^[14]
• 1862 – the variant ofera in a calendar.^[2]
• 1862 – in Pontbriant's dictionary, glossed French offrir, présenter, proposer.^[16]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To offer: to propose that someone accept something unasked; to give as a present; to put at someone's disposal: I-a oferit un loc lângă fereastră. “He offered her a seat by the window.”^[5][4]
2. (reflexive) To declare oneself ready to do a service, to volunteer.^[5]
3. (transitive) To offer goods for sale; to bid a price for something.^[5][4]
4. (transitive, figurative) To present, to show, to display.^[5][8]

Word family

• ofertă

Related words

• ofrandă
• suferi
• Italian offerire
• Latin offerō

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. oferi
3. ^ a b c d e Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. oferi
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 198
5. ^ a b c d e f DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 736
6. ^ a b c 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. oferi
7. ^ a b Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. oferi
8. ^ a b c Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. oferi
9. ^ a b Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. oferi
10. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
12. ^ Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
13. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
14. ^ 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. oferire
15. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 1, 441
16. ^ Pontbriant, Raoul de (1862), Dictiunaru romano-francesu, Bucuresci: A. Ulrich / Göttingen: Dieterich, p. 506