planta

Forms

planta (third-person singular present plantează, past participle plantat), 1st conjugation^[1] Old texts have plănta: „Nescare om era casator; el plănta viia” “there was a certain householder; he planted a vineyard” (Matthew 21:33, in a Gospel text of 1551–1553).^[2] In the Moldovan Cyrillic alphabet it was written планта.^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French planter, with Latin plantō (“to plant”) as a second source: the DEX, MDA2, the DN and the DLR give both sources.^[3][4][5][6] Wiktionary takes it from French, which had the verb from Latin.^[1] Tiktin puts Latin first, notes that the word may also have come through another language, and compares Hungarian plantál.^[2]

The Latin verb is a derivative of planta, the noun for a cutting or slip.^[7] The DHLF explains it from the homonymous noun for the sole of the foot: the verb first meant to tread earth down, and country speech used it for firming the soil around a young plant.^[8] The REW lists împlânta “to drive in, plant firmly” among the compounds of the Latin verb, whose Romance descendants include Italian piantare, Occitan plantar and Catalan plantar.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is plănta in a Gospel text of 1551–1553, in the parable of the householder who planted a vineyard (Matthew 21:33).^[2] MDA2 and the DLR open their record with Gheorghe Asachi, who speaks of an orchard planted by his ancestor.^[4][6]

Semantic evolution

The core sense is setting young plants in the ground so that they take root; a second sense, covering a piece of land with them.^[3][4] By extension it came to mean driving a post or stake into the ground, and placing something somewhere; the DLRLC quotes Hasdeu on Moldavian troops posted on an entrenched hill.^[4][10] The reflexive a se planta în fața cuiva means to plant oneself in front of someone, in the way or for show.^[3][11] Military language uses the verb for laying mines.^[3][5] The MDN adds setting up a piece of scenery on a stage or film set, and a colloquial sense, leaving someone suddenly.^[12]

Timeline

• 1551–1553 – plănta “planted” in a Gospel text (Matthew 21:33), the first record.^[2]
• 1848 – Negulici's dictionary of neologisms lists the verb with the present plantez and glosses it with sădi.^[13]
• 1875 – Antonescu's dictionary renders it with French planter.^[14]
• 1955–1957 – the DLRLC records the figurative sense “to place, set up” and the reflexive phrase.^[10]

Meanings

Verb

1. To plant seedlings, saplings or cuttings in the ground so that they grow; to cover a piece of land with them.^[3][4]
2. To drive a post or stake into the ground.^[3][12]
3. (reflexive) In a se planta în fața cuiva: to stand in front of someone in an intrusive or showy way.^[3]
4. (military) To lay mines in the ground or in water.^[3]
5. (colloquial) To abandon someone suddenly.^[12]

Related words

• împlânta
• plantă
• Latin plantō

Usage notes

An old verb of the same meaning, plăntălui, is recorded in Banat.^[6][4]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. planta
3. ^ a b c d e f g h DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 827
4. ^ a b c d e f Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 405
5. ^ a b Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. planta
6. ^ a b c Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. planta
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 6578
10. ^ a b Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 3, 450
11. ^ Costăchescu, Adriana; Dincă, Daniela; Dragoste, Ramona; Popescu, Mihaela; Scurtu, Gabriela (2009–2010), Dicționar de împrumuturi lexicale din limba franceză (DILF), 2 vols., Craiova: Universitaria, p. s.v. planta
12. ^ a b c Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. planta
13. ^ 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. plantare
14. ^ Antonescu, G. M. (1875), Dictionariu romanu-francesu, Bucuresci: Typografia Curții (Lucrători Associați), p. 232