proteja

Forms

proteja (third-person singular present protejează, past participle protejat), 1st conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French protéger, with borrowed from Latin prōtegō (“to cover in front, shelter”) named beside it by most dictionaries.^[2][3][4][1] MDA2, the DLR and Tiktin also name Italian proteggere.^[5][6][7] The French verb was borrowed from the Latin verb at the end of the 14th century; the Latin is prō- (“in front”) with tegō (“to cover”).^[8]

The old variants protegui and protege show the Italian and Latin shape of the verb before the form in ⟨-ja⟩ prevailed.^[7][3][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is from 1794, in a text printed in Gaster's chrestomathy.^[7] Heliade-Rădulescu still used the third-conjugation form: „Domnul ... îi protege” “the Lord protects them”.^[6][5]

Semantic evolution

The early sense is patronage: to support someone with recommendations or help, and so to favour him.^[6][5] Bălcescu wrote of the Poles protecting the Movilă family.^[6] The sense “to shield from harm, guard”, transitive and reflexive, now comes first in DEX.^[3][4] NODEX notes the pejorative “to favour unfairly”.^[9]

Timeline

• 1794 – the first record, in Gaster's chrestomathy.^[7]
• 19th century – protege in Heliade-Rădulescu.^[6][5]

Meanings

Verb

1. to protect, shield from harm or danger;^[3][5][1] (reflexive) to protect oneself: Casca te protejează de lovituri.^[3][5][1]
2. to support someone with recommendations or material help.^[3][5]
3. to favour, to take someone's side, often unfairly.^[3][9]

Word family

• protejat

Related words

• protecție
• protector
• Latin prōtegō

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. proteja
3. ^ 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. 888
4. ^ a b Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. proteja
5. ^ a b c d e f g Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 576
6. ^ 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. proteja
7. ^ 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. proteja
8. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. protéger
9. ^ a b Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. proteja