rămâne

Forms

a rămâne (third-person singular present rămâne, past participle rămas, third-person subjunctive rămână), 3rd conjugation^[1] The older infinitive is rămânea, of the second conjugation; regional forms include remânea and a participle rămâns.^[2][3][1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin remaneō (“to stay behind, remain”), formed from re- and maneō (“to stay”).^[3][2][4][1] The older infinitive rămânea continues the second conjugation of the Latin verb; like ține, the verb later passed into the third.^[1][5] Ciorănescu notes that the old simple perfect ⟨rămaș⟩, which the other three branches keep, was replaced by ⟨rămăsei⟩.^[3]

The word survives in Aromanian as armãn and in Megleno-Romanian as rămǫn, with related forms in Istro-Romanian.^[3][1] The Romance cognates include Italian rimanere, Occitan remanre and Old French remaindre.^[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is a Gospel text of 1551–1553, at Matthew 13:22.^[6] MDA2 and the DLR start from Grigore Ureche's chronicle, written about 1642–1647, where the boyars feared to stay behind.^[2][7]

Semantic evolution

The basic sense is “to stay in a place, not leave”, opposed to verbs of going.^[7][8] From it come “to be left over, remain”, “to fall behind”, “to continue in a state” and “to last”.^[3][8] The old language also had a legal transitive use, “to win a case against someone, have someone condemned”, as in Neculce's chronicle; it also meant “to beat someone in a contest or wager”.^[6] The derivatives rămăși “to bet” and rămășag “bet” belong to the same family.^[3]

The noun rămas once meant “inheritance” and “sentence”, and rămășiță “remnant” also meant “inheritance” in the old language.^[3] Under communism a rămâne was used absolutely for staying in the West instead of returning home.^[9][10] Hungarian ramasz is a loan from Romanian.^[3]

Timeline

• 1551–1553 – the first record, in a Gospel text (Matthew 13:22).^[6]
• c. 1642–1647 – in Grigore Ureche's chronicle.^[2][7]
• 1660 – rămânea and rămas in a Slavonic–Romanian lexicon.^[11]
• 1992 – the press uses a rămâne for staying in the West under communism.^[9]

Meanings

Verb

1. To stay: to not leave a place; of things, to be left where they are.^[8][1]
2. To stop at someone's place or somewhere; to be left behind or outdistanced; of a clock, to be slow.^[8]
3. To remain, be left over after the rest is gone.^[8][3]
4. To continue in a state or condition; to last.^[8][1]
5. To die on a battlefield.^[8]
6. (dated, colloquial) To stay in the West and not return, under the communist regime.^[9][10]

Word family

• rămânere
• rămas
• rămășiță
• rămășag

Related words

• mânea
• Aromanian armãn
• Latin remaneō

Usage notes

Rămâi cu bine is a farewell said by the one who leaves;^[8] să rămână între noi asks for a secret to be kept.^[8]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 634
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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. rămânea
4. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 7194
5. ^ Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. ține
6. ^ 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. rămâne
7. ^ a b c Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. rămâne
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 916
9. ^ a b c Dimitrescu, Florica (1997), Dicționar de cuvinte recente, 2nd ed., București: Logos (with the 3rd ed., 2013, in CLRE), p. s.v. rămâne
10. ^ a b Volceanov, George (2007), Dicționar de argou al limbii române, București: Niculescu, p. s.v. rămâne
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. rămînea