prezenta

Forms

prezenta (third-person singular present prezintă, past participle prezentat, third-person subjunctive prezinte) 1st conjugation^[1] Old presents are prezentez and prezent, beside prezint.^[2][3] Negulici (1848) writes it presenta, after French, and conjugates it either way: presentez or present.^[4][2] Other old forms are prezinta and the Gallicism prezanta.^[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French présenter: DLR, MDA2 and Wiktionary give French alone.^[2][3][1] DEX, DN, MDN and DILF add borrowed from Latin praesentō (“to show, present”), and Tiktin names Italian presentare as well.^[5][6][7][8] The Latin verb is formed on praesēns (“present”).^[1]

Cantemir had formed his own verb prezentui from prezent with the suffix -ui.^[3][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the word to Cantemir in 1705;^[3] Cantemir's Istoria ieroglifică has the form prezentui.^[8][3] The form prezenta is first in a newspaper of 1829, reporting that the museum's director presented a lithographed copy to the prince as a gift.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

The first sense was “to hand over, offer”, of petitions, reports and gifts, then of food and drink.^[2][3] Negulici glosses it with the native oferi and înfățișa.^[4] Later senses are “to introduce someone”, “to show to the public” (a show, results, research), and, reflexively, “to appear, report somewhere”.^[5] Army drill gave a prezenta arma “to present arms”.^[5][8] Of things it means “to show a feature”, and se prezintă “it looks like, appears as”.^[5][2]

Timeline

• 1705 – Cantemir, in Tiktin's dating; his Istoria ieroglifică has prezentui.^[8]
• 1829 – au prezentat “presented” in a newspaper.^[2][3]
• 1848 – presenta in Negulici's dictionary of neologisms.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. To introduce someone, or oneself, to others by name; to show a show, results of work or research to the public;^[5] (reflexive) to come to mind.^[5]
2. (reflexive) To appear or report somewhere to meet an obligation or to offer or ask for something; to sit an examination or stand in an election.^[5]
3. To hand over, offer, give: a prezenta un raport “to submit a report”;^[5][3] a prezenta arma “to present arms”.^[5][3]
4. (of things) To show a feature;^[5] (reflexive) to look like, appear as.^[5]

Related words

• prezent
• prezentui
• prezență
• French présenter

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. prezenta
3. ^ 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, 532
4. ^ a b c 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. presentare
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 872
6. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. prezenta
7. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. prezenta
8. ^ 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. prezenta
9. ^ Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. prezentui