preajmă

Forms

preajmă f (uncountable)^[1] Regional and old forms are prejmă, prijmă, preamă and a neuter preajm;^[2][3][4] Herodotus's translation of 1645 has „șăzură în prijma perșilor” “they sat facing the Persians”.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

Its origin is unknown, and the proposals do not fit the sounds.^[5][1] Cihac started from Old Church Slavonic прѣмо (prěmo, “opposite”), and Iordan explained the ⟨j⟩ by jur;^[5][6] Miklosich and Weigand thought of Slavonic words meaning “before” and “former”; none of these satisfies Ciorănescu.^[5][6] DEX and MDA2 point to the same family, Old Church Slavonic прѣждьнь (prěždĭnĭ, “former, earlier”).^[4][2][7] Tiktin rejected Weigand's form and preferred an Old Church Slavonic compound meaning “in front of”, with the ⟨m⟩ from a cross with Cihac's word.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

MDA2 dates the first record to the Psaltirea Scheiană (c. 1573–1578), cited from Candrea's edition, where a parallel text reads „în prijma mea” “near me, before me”.^[2][3] Herodotus's translation of 1645 has în prijma “facing”.^[8][3]

Semantic evolution

In the old language în preajma meant “in front of, facing”: the Bible of 1688 sends the disciples to “the village that is before you”.^[8][3] From this came “in the neighbourhood of, around”, and the noun “surroundings”, recorded in 1830.^[8][3] Miron Costin used it for “against” an enemy and Nicolae Costin for “in comparison with”.^[8] Today it is used mostly in phrases, of place and of time: în preajma “near” and “on the eve of”.^[3][4] The verb împrejmui “to fence in” is derived from it.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 1573–1578 – în prijma mea in a psalter text, MDA2's first record.^[2][3]
• 1645 – în prijma perșilor in the Herodotus translation.^[8]
• 1688 – în preajma voastră “before you” in the Bucharest Bible.^[8]
• 1830 – toată preajma “all the surroundings” in a periodical.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. The surroundings, vicinity: the space around someone or something; împrejurime.^[4][2]
2. din preajmă: nearby; of time, of the day before, recent.^[4]
3. în preajmă, în preajma (+ genitive): around, near; of time, on the eve of, shortly before: în preajma sărbătorilor “just before the holidays”.^[4][2]
4. a umbla în preajma cuiva: to hang around someone, to follow someone about.^[4][2]

Word family

• împrejmui
• împrejmuire
• împrejmuitor

Related words

• jur
• vecinătate
• Old Church Slavonic прѣмо (prěmo)

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 507
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. preajmă
4. ^ 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. 862
5. ^ a b c d 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. preajmă
6. ^ a b Kurz, Josef; Hauptová, Zoe (eds.) (1958–1997), Slovník jazyka staroslověnského / Lexicon linguae palaeoslovenicae, 4 vols. + supplements, Praha: Academia; digital ed. gorazd.org, p. s.v. прѣмо
7. ^ Kurz, Josef; Hauptová, Zoe (eds.) (1958–1997), Slovník jazyka staroslověnského / Lexicon linguae palaeoslovenicae, 4 vols. + supplements, Praha: Academia; digital ed. gorazd.org, p. s.v. прѣждьнь
8. ^ a b c d e f g Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. preajmă