pofti

Forms

pofti (present poftesc, third-person singular poftește, past participle poftit), 4th conjugation.^[1][2] The old form was pohti: the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki has pohtiră “they lusted” (Psalm 105:15), and the Bible of 1688 „să nu pohtești casa vecinului tău” “do not covet your neighbour's house”.^[3][4][5] A regional form is popti.^[5]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Old Church Slavonic похотѣти (pohotěti, “to covet, to long for”), as DEX, Wiktionary and Wikționar state.^[2][1][6][7] MDA2 marks the Slavonic form as reconstructed, but the SJS records the verb in the Codex Suprasliensis and other texts.^[5][7] The Slavonic verb is formed with по- (po-) on хътѣти (xŭtěti), from Proto-Slavic *xъtěti, a variant of *xotěti (“to want”).^[1]

Ciorănescu treats it differently: he takes the noun poftă from Slavonic похоть (pohotĭ, “desire”), after Miklosich and Cihac, and lists the verb among its derivatives, only comparing the Slavonic verb.^[8][7] DEX takes the opposite view, deriving the noun from the verb as a back-formation.^[2] Ciorănescu rejects Philippide's Greek source Ancient Greek πόθος (póthos).^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

MDA2's first record is the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki of the early 16th century, with the sense “to desire, to lust after”.^[5][3] Tiktin cites the Psaltirea Scheiană (Psalm 36:1).^[4]

Semantic evolution

The first sense was “to desire, to covet”, the sense of the Slavonic verb.^[4][5] In the old language it also meant “to ask for, to request”: Ureche writes of envoys who came to the king „poftindu-l de pace” “asking him for peace”, and a liturgical book of 1702 wishes all Orthodox Christians health: „poftește și roagă” “[he] wishes and prays”.^[4] From asking someone came the polite sense “to invite”: când ești poftit la vreo masă “when you are invited to a meal”.^[4][2] With an imperative force it became a polite request, “to be so good as to”, and by extension “to dare” and “to come, to go somewhere”.^[5][2]

The first person plural poftim and the plural poftiți became formulas of politeness, “please; here you are”.^[4] MDA2 dates the interjection poftim from Alecsandri's plays (1875).^[9]

Timeline

• c. 1500-1520 – pohtiră “they lusted” in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki.^[3][5]
• c. 1573-1578 – pohti in the Psaltirea Scheiană.^[4][10]
• c. 1642-1647 – “to ask for” in Ureche's chronicle.^[4]
• 1688 – să nu pohtești “do not covet” in the Bucharest Bible.^[4]
• 1875 – the interjection poftim in Alecsandri's plays.^[9]

Meanings

Verb

1. To desire strongly, to crave; to covet.^[2][5][1]
2. (dated, regional) To ask for, to request.^[2][5]
3. To invite, to call (someone) in;^[2][1] (reflexive) to invite one another.^[2][1]
4. (dated, popular) To wish (someone) something, to greet with a wish.^[2][5]
5. To be so kind as to (do something); (intransitive) to come, to go (somewhere): Poftiți înăuntru! “Do come in!”^[2][5]
6. poftim (interjection): here you are; please come in, please sit down; pardon?, used when one has not heard; with ei, expressing indignation: “well, I never!”^[2][9]

Word family

• poftim
• poftire
• nepoftit

Related words

• poftă
• pofticios

Usage notes

Poftim, the first person plural of the verb, is used as an interjection: in offering something (“here you are”), in inviting someone in or to sit, in asking for something to be repeated (“pardon?”), and, often after ei, in annoyance.^[2][9] The more polite form is poftiți.^[4] Du-te unde poftești means “go wherever you like”.^[5]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. 1, 840
3. ^ a b c 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 105:15
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. pofti
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 442
6. ^ Wikționar (Romanian Wiktionary), ro.wiktionary.org
7. ^ a b c Kurz, Josef; Hauptová, Zoe (eds.) (1958–1997), Slovník jazyka staroslověnského / Lexicon linguae palaeoslovenicae, 4 vols. + supplements, Praha: Academia; digital ed. gorazd.org
8. ^ a b 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. poftă
9. ^ a b c d Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 443
10. ^ 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 36:1