părea

Forms

third-person singular present pare (obsolete or regional paie), past participle părut, third-person subjunctive pară; second conjugation^[1] Regional speech has the present pai, paie and the old language a gerund păind.^[2][1] DEX records a rare third-conjugation variant páre.^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin pāreō (“to appear”).^{[4][2][3][5][1][6]} The verb survives as Aromanian par, also ampar.^[4] Its Romance cognates include Italian parere, Occitan parer, Old French paroir, Spanish parecer and Portuguese parecer.^[4][5] The Latin verb comes from *peh₂-s- (“to watch, see”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Coresi's psalter of 1570 has părea and păru.^[7][8] MDA2's first record is the Psaltirea Scheiană, which Tiktin quotes too.^[2][6]

Semantic evolution

The verb means “to seem, to give the impression” and, with a dative, “to think, to believe”: mi se pare “I think, it seems to me”.^[3][2] Impersonal phrases express feelings: a-i părea bine “to be glad” and a-i părea rău “to be sorry”.^[3][2] Pare că “it seems that” became the adverb parcă “as if”;^[4] Ciorănescu compares Calabrian parca.^[4] Older and regional senses include “to be convenient” and “to be imposing”.^[1][3]

The derived noun părere means both “opinion” and “illusion”; părelnic is “imaginary”.^[4][9] dispărea “to disappear” was formed on the model of French disparaître.^[4]

Timeline

• 1570 – părea and păru in Coresi's psalter.^[7][8]
• c. 1573–1578 – in the Psaltirea Scheiană.^[2][6]
• 16th century – părere in the Psaltirea Scheiană.^[9]
• 1835 – parcă “as if”.^[10]

Meanings

Verb

1. To seem, to appear, to give the impression: Pare obosit. “He looks tired.”;^[3][2] a-i părea bine “to be glad”, a-i părea rău “to be sorry”.^[3][2]
2. (rare) To draw attention, to be imposing.^[3][2]
3. To think, to believe; to consider: Mi se pare corect. “It seems fair to me.”^[3][2]
4. To be mistaken, to imagine things: Ți s-a părut. “You imagined it.”^[3][1]

Word family

• părere
• părelnic
• parcă

Related words

• apărea
• dispărea
• Aromanian par

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 j Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 305
3. ^ 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. 789
4. ^ a b c d e f g 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. părea
5. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 6235
6. ^ a b c Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. părea
7. ^ a b Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Ungureanu, Mădălina; Moruz, Alexandru et al., roPsalt: Re-evaluating the Sixteenth Century Romanian Psalters (aligned corpus), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. Ps 118:39
8. ^ a b Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Ungureanu, Mădălina; Moruz, Alexandru et al., roPsalt: Re-evaluating the Sixteenth Century Romanian Psalters (aligned corpus), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. Ps 72:15
9. ^ a b Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. părere
10. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. s.v. parcă