primi

Forms

primi (third-person singular present primește, past participle primit) 4th conjugation^[1] priimi, the older spelling: „Care ar priimi pre un copil ca acesta în numele mieu, pre mine priimeaște” “whoever would receive such a child in my name receives me” (Bucharest Bible 1688, Matthew 18:5).^[2] preimi is frequent in the Psaltirea Scheiană, as at Psalm 14:4, and preemi in the Codicele Voronețean.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Old Church Slavonic приѩти (prijęti, “to take, receive”), with the present приимѫ (priimǫ), as Ciorănescu and Tiktin give it.^[4][2][5] MDA2 names the present form, while DEX and Wiktionary name the imperfective приимати (priimati) and its variant примати (primati).^[6][7][1] Ciorănescu follows Miklosich, Cihac and Iordan, and compares Serbo-Croatian primiti and Slovene primiti.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is priimi in the Psaltirea Voroneț (c. 1551–1558), at Psalm 146:6.^[8] Coresi's psalter of 1570 has priimiți.^[9] MDA2 dates the verb from Coresi's Evanghelie cu învățătură (1581), where those who toil a little „mari daruri priimi-vor” “will receive great gifts”.^[6][10]

Semantic evolution

The oldest senses are “to take, receive” a thing given and “to accept” a person or an offer.^[10][2] A document of 1616 already uses it for the gifts a priest receives in church, and a text of 1848 for receiving a letter.^[10] From welcoming a person came the senses “to host guests” and “to grant an audience”.^[7][2]

The reflexive a se primi meant “to agree, take on a duty” in old Moldavian texts, as in Nicolae Costin.^[2] Old Romanian also used a primi în sine “to conceive (a child)”.^[6] Tiktin records the proverb Cine tace, primește “silence gives consent”.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1551–1558 – priimi in the Psaltirea Voroneț, the first record.^[8]
• 1570 – priimiți in Coresi's psalter.^[9]
• c. 1573–1578 – preimi in the Psaltirea Scheiană.^[3][2]
• 1581 – priimi-vor in Coresi's Evanghelie cu învățătură.^[6][10]
• 1616 – a priest priimeaște gifts in church, in a document.^[10]
• c. 1660–1670 – priimi in a Slavonic–Romanian lexicon.^[11]
• 1688 – priimi throughout the Bucharest Bible.^[12]

Meanings

Verb

1. To receive, take or accept what is offered, given or owed; to obtain; specifically to collect money.^[7][6] Also: to be given a title or rank; to learn of news or an order; to undergo an action: a primi un pumn “to take a punch”.^[7][6]
2. To welcome a guest; to put someone up; to have guests; to grant someone a visit or an audience: Directorul primește marțea. “The director sees visitors on Tuesdays.”^[7]
3. To admit someone into a firm, institution or organisation; to include.^[7]
4. To consent, agree to; to embrace a doctrine; to react to someone or something in a certain way: a primi pe cineva cu răceală “to receive someone coldly”.^[7]

Word family

• primire
• primitor
• reprimi
• primiință

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. primí
3. ^ 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 14:4
4. ^ 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. primi
5. ^ 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. приѩти
6. ^ 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, 540
7. ^ a b c d e f g DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 875
8. ^ 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 146:6
9. ^ 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 80:2
10. ^ a b c d e Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. primi
11. ^ Ungureanu, Mădălina; Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Moruz, Alexandru (eds.), eRomLex: The First Romanian Bilingual Dictionaries (17th century), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. s.v. priimi
12. ^ Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Facerea 32:20