ofta

Forms

ofta (third-person singular present oftează, past participle oftat) 1st conjugation^[1] Older texts have the variant ohta: „Ohtăndu pătimesc ascunsu” “sighing, I suffer in secret”, in an early 19th-century manuscript.^[2][3] Heliade Rădulescu writes ohtezi “you sigh”: „și tu ohtezi” “and you sigh”.^[2] In the Moldovan Cyrillic alphabet the word was written офта.^[1]

Etymology

DEX, the DLR and Wiktionary derive it from Romanian oft (“sigh”), and Șăineanu calls the noun an intensive form of the interjection of.^[4][2][1][5] The noun is itself formed on the model of aht “burning longing, sigh”, a loan from Modern Greek άχτι (áhti, “burning desire”).^[6][4][1] Tiktin compares both words.^[7]

Ciorănescu lists the verb among the derivatives of the expressive interjection and gives the cognate Aromanian uhtedz.^[8] Papahagi derives the Aromanian verb from the interjection uh!.^[9][10] Ciorănescu finds the derivation easy and sets aside two older views: Cipariu's Latin optō (“to wish”) and Cihac's Slavonic etymon.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is Coresi's Tetraevanghel of 1561, in the Gospel of Mark (8:12).^[7] MDA2 gives an early 19th-century manuscript miscellany as its first record.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The core sense, to let out a sigh of longing, grief or regret, has stayed the same.^[4][2] With după it means to long for or to mourn someone or something: Bălcescu wrote of boyars whose heart sighed after freedom.^[7][11] MDA2 adds the rare sense “to suffer”, an old transitive use “to regret” and a popular reflexive a se ofta “to lament”, which Tiktin glosses as “to wail”.^[3][7] Its derivatives include the noun oftat “sigh, lament” and oftătură “lament, regret”.^[8]

Timeline

• 1561 – in Coresi's Tetraevanghel, Mark 8:12.^[7]
• 1801 – oftéz glossed suspiro in Klein's dictionary.^[12]
• early 19th century – ohtăndu “sighing” in a manuscript miscellany.^[2][3]
• 1825 – the noun oft in the Lexicon of Buda.^[3][13]
• 19th century – a ofta după “to long for” in Bălcescu.^[7]

Meanings

Verb

1. (intransitive) To sigh, to let out a sigh of longing, grief or regret; suspina: Bătrâna oftă și se uită pe fereastră. “The old woman sighed and looked out of the window.”^[4][3][1]
2. a ofta după cineva (or ceva): to miss someone or something bitterly; to yearn for them.^[4][3]
3. (rare) To suffer.^[3]
4. (obsolete, transitive) To regret;^[3][7] (reflexive, popular) to lament.^[3][7]

Word family

• oftat
• oftătură

Related words

• of
• oft
• aht
• Aromanian uhtedz

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. ofta
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 199
4. ^ a b c d e DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 737
5. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 441
6. ^ Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. oft
7. ^ a b c d e f g h Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. ofta
8. ^ 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. of
9. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1080
10. ^ Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net), p. 1055
11. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. ofta
12. ^ Gáldi, László (ed.) (1944), Samuel Klein: Dictionarium valachico-latinum. Primul dicționar al limbii române, Budapest: Királyi Magyar Pázmány Péter Tudományegyetemi Román Intézet (Klein's dictionary of 1801, with Gáldi's etymological study), p. 409
13. ^ Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. oft