răspândi

Forms

răspândi (third-person singular present răspândește, past participle răspândit), 4th conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Old Church Slavonic распѫдити (raspǫditi, “to scatter”), the Old Church Slavonic verb that DEX, MDA2, Tiktin and Ciorănescu all give as its source.^{[2][3][4][5][1]} The Slavonic verb is formed with the prefix рас- (ras-) on пѫдити (pǫditi), from Proto-Slavic *pǫditi (“to chase”).^[1][6] In the Gospel manuscripts it renders Ancient Greek σκορπίζω (skorpízō, “to scatter”), of the wolf that scatters the sheep (John 10:12).^[7]

The word survives south of the Danube as Aromanian arăspindescu.^[2] Pascu derived it from a Latin *re-expandīre, built on expandō (“to spread out”), but Ciorănescu thinks this unlikely, and Wiktionary also prefers the Slavonic source.^[2][1] Tiktin adds that the sense “to spread (a smell, a rumour)” follows the similar-sounding French répandre.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Coresi's Psalter of 1570, at Psalm 17:16, a verse that Coresi's later psalters of 1577 and 1589 repeat.^[8] Tiktin quotes the line: „Tremease săgeate și-i răspândi” “He sent out arrows and scattered them”: the sense is “to scatter” an enemy.^[4] The Psaltirea Scheiană has it at Psalm 88:11, and MDA2 dates its first record to that psalter.^[4][3]

Semantic evolution

The oldest sense, “to drive apart, scatter” people or animals, is the one of the Slavonic verb.^[4][7] From it came “to spread” light, heat or a smell in all directions, and, reflexively, of news and rumours, “to spread, become known”;^[4][5] Tiktin links this second sense to French influence.^[4][5] Old texts also used it for “to make disappear, do away with”, a sense MDA2 marks as dated.^[3] Șăineanu still listed “to shed (blood)” among its senses in the 1920s.^[9]

Timeline

• 1570 – first record, in Coresi's Psalter (Psalm 17:16).^[8][4]
• c. 1573-1578 – the Psaltirea Scheiană (Psalm 88:11).^[4][3]
• 1577 and 1589 – again in Coresi's later psalters.^[8]
• 19th century – Alecsandri still uses the old present forms răspânde and răspând.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. (reflexive, of light, heat, smells) To spread in all directions as waves or vapours;^[5][3] (transitive) to give off, radiate.^[5][3]
2. (reflexive, of news, rumours, publications) To circulate, become widely known;^[5][3] (of liquids) to spread over a large surface.^[5][3]
3. (reflexive and transitive, of people or animals) To scatter, go or send off in different directions.^[5][3]
4. (dated) To do away with, make disappear.^[3]

Word family

• răspândire
• răspânditor

Related words

• Aromanian arăspindescu

Usage notes

Besides the regular present răspândesc, older Romanian had forms without -esc: răspând, third person singular răspânde.^[3][4] The reflexive is common: Vestea s-a răspândit repede în tot orașul.^[5]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c 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. răspîndi
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 643
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. răspândí
5. ^ 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. 918
6. ^ Derksen, Rick (2008), Etymological Dictionary of the Slavic Inherited Lexicon, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 4, Leiden / Boston: Brill
7. ^ a b Kurz, Josef; Hauptová, Zoe (eds.) (1958–1997), Slovník jazyka staroslověnského / Lexicon linguae palaeoslovenicae, 4 vols. + supplements, Praha: Academia; digital ed. gorazd.org
8. ^ a b c 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 17:16
9. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 534