promite

Forms

promite (third-person singular present promite, past participle promis, third-person subjunctive promită or (dated) promiță) 3rd conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin prōmittō (“to send forward, to promise”) and French promettre: DEX, MDA2, the DLR, DILF and Marcu's MDN name both words.^{[2][3][4][5][6]} Marcu & Maneca's DN gives the Latin verb and compares the French one, and Tiktin names New Latin alone.^[7][8] Ciorănescu takes it from French and notes that it is conjugated like trimite.^[9] Wiktionary gives the French verb, from the Latin one.^[1]

The Latin verb is formed from prō (“forward”) and mittō (“to send”): its literal sense was “to let go forward”, but it was used mostly for “to guarantee, promise”.^[10] The French verb was borrowed from it around 980 and reshaped after mettre.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in a calendar of 1794, where the word means “to foretell”: „noaptea promite lucire de soare și aer rece și uscat” “the night promises sunshine and cold, dry air”.^[4][3][8]

Semantic evolution

The old senses “to foretell, announce” were given up for “to undertake to do something for someone”, the sense of the native făgădui.^[3][4] Negulici's dictionary of neologisms explains it by that verb in 1848, and the DLR quotes it from the same year.^[11][4] The figurative sense “to hold out good prospects, raise hopes” followed, as in un elev care promite “a promising pupil”.^[12][2] MDA2 also has a rare figurative sense “to destine”.^[3]

Its derivatives are promițător “promising” and promisiune “promise”, which Ciorănescu takes from French promesse, reshaped after French pairs such as admettre – admission.^[9]

Timeline

• 1794 – the first record, in a calendar, in the sense “to foretell”.^[3][8][4]
• 1848 – Negulici glosses it with a făgădui “to promise”.^[11]
• 1848 – “to promise, commit oneself” in a periodical quoted by the DLR.^[4]
• 1869 – Barițiu gives it as an equivalent of Hungarian ígér “to promise”.^[13]
• 1875 – Antonescu translates it into French as “promettre”.^[14]

Meanings

Verb

1. To promise, to undertake to do or give something (to someone, in the dative): I-am promis că vin mâine. “I promised him I would come tomorrow.”^[2][1]
2. (figurative) to hold out good prospects, to raise hopes: Recolta promite să fie bogată. “The harvest looks like being rich.”^[2][15]
3. (obsolete) to foretell, to announce.^[3][4]

Word family

• promisiune
• promițător

Related words

• trimite
• făgădui

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1, 884
3. ^ 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, 567
4. ^ a b c d e f g Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. promite
5. ^ Costăchescu, Adriana; Dincă, Daniela; Dragoste, Ramona; Popescu, Mihaela; Scurtu, Gabriela (2009–2010), Dicționar de împrumuturi lexicale din limba franceză (DILF), 2 vols., Craiova: Universitaria, p. s.v. promite
6. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. promite
7. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. promite
8. ^ a b c Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. promite
9. ^ 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. promite
10. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
11. ^ a b 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. promittere
12. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 1, 518
13. ^ Barițiu, George (1869), Dictionariu unguresc-romanescu, Brașov, p. 255
14. ^ Antonescu, G. M. (1875), Dictionariu romanu-francesu, Bucuresci: Typografia Curții (Lucrători Associați), p. 248
15. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. promite