plin

Forms

plin m or n (feminine singular plină, masculine plural plini, feminine/neuter plural pline)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin plēnus (“full”).^{[2][3][4][1][5]} The Latin word comes from Proto-Italic *plēnos, from an e-grade variant of Proto-Indo-European *pl̥h₁nós (“full”); it is related to Ancient Greek πλήρης (plḗrēs) and English full.^[1] Graur groups it with the Latin verb pleō (“to fill”), whose compounds gave Romanian umple and cumplit.^[6]

The adjective survives in all four branches of Romanian: Aromanian plin (also mplin), Megleno-Romanian plin and Istro-Romanian plʼir.^[2][7][8][9] Its Romance cognates include Dalmatian plajn, Italian pieno, French plein, Occitan ple, Spanish lleno and Portuguese cheio.^[2][5] Wiktionary notes the learned doublet plen.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest record in the psalters is the articled noun plinul “the fullness” in the Psaltirea Voronețeană (c. 1551–1558).^[10] MDA2 dates the adjective to the Codicele Voronețean (c. 1563–1583), and Tiktin to the Psaltirea Scheiană.^[3][11]

Semantic evolution

The first sense is “filled to the top”, said of vessels and rooms; from it come “containing much of something”, “covered or smeared with something”, “compact, solid” and, of people, “plump”.^[12][2] The sense “complete, whole” gave lună plină “full moon” and the academic profesor plin “full professor”.^[12][11]

Used as a neuter noun, plinul is the content of a vessel; in folk belief, meeting someone carrying a full vessel was a good omen and an empty one a bad omen, hence a-i ieși cu plin “to cross someone's path with a full vessel”.^[2][12] Recent phrases include a face plinul “to fill up the tank”.^[12] Derivatives formed in Romanian include plinătate, modelled on French plénitude, and deplin “complete”.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1551–1558 – plinul in the Psaltirea Voronețeană.^[10]
• c. 1563–1583 – plin in the Codicele Voronețean, MDA2's first record.^[3]
• 1570 – plin in Coresi's psalter.^[13]
• c. 1573–1578 – plin in the Psaltirea Scheiană.^[11]

Meanings

Adjective

1. full: filled with something to the limit; of a firearm, loaded.^[12][3][1]
2. Solid, without gaps; whole, complete: profesor plin “full professor”.^[12]
3. Containing a great deal or a great number of something; of eyes, brimming with tears.^[12]
4. Covered or loaded with something; dirty, smeared.^[12]
5. Of people and their bodies, rounded, plump.^[12][11]
6. Ample, intense, perfect: lună plină “full moon”, voce plină “rich voice”.^[12][11]

Noun

1. What fills a vessel or a space; content.^[12]

Word family

• plinătate
• plinuț
• împlini
• împlinitor
• deplin
• deplinătate
• îndeplini

Related words

• umple
• cumplit
• plen
• Aromanian plin
• Latin plēnus

Usage notes

The neuter noun has the plural plinuri.^[12][3] Common phrases are din plin “abundantly”, în plin “right on target” and plin ochi “filled to the brim”.^[12]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f 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. plin
3. ^ a b c d e Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 421
4. ^ Pușcariu, Sextil (1905), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der rumänischen Sprache I: Lateinisches Element, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 117
5. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 6596
6. ^ Graur, Alexandru (1980), Cuvinte înrudite, București: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică, p. 76
7. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 865
8. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Densusianu, Ov. (1907–1914), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române: elementele latine (A–Putea), București, p. s.v. plin
9. ^ Kovačec, August (1998), Istrorumunjsko-hrvatski rječnik (s gramatikom i tekstovima), Pula
10. ^ 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 95:11
11. ^ 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. plin
12. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 833
13. ^ 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 9:29