răsplăti

Forms

răsplăti (third-person singular present răsplătește, past participle răsplătit), 4th conjugation^[1] Older texts also spell it resplăti: „Eram bine resplătit” “I was well rewarded” (Ghica).^[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from Romanian răs- + plăti, according to Ciorănescu, MDA2, Tiktin and the DLR.^[4][3][2][5] The verb “to pay” is from Old Church Slavonic платити (platiti).^[4] These sources compare Bulgarian разплатя (razplatja) and Serbo-Croatian rasplatiti, and Tiktin a Russian verb as well.^[4][3][2]

DEX instead derives the verb from the Bulgarian and Serbo-Croatian verbs,^[6] and Wiktionary from the Bulgarian one;^[1] Șăineanu named the Russian form.^[7] Tiktin holds that the noun răsplată was formed in Romanian after plată and the verb, and matches the Slavic noun only by chance.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is in Grigore Ureche's chronicle (c. 1642–1647), in the sense “to avenge”: Ștefan Vodă beheaded Petru Aron „de-și răsplăti moartea tătâne-său” “and so avenged his father's death”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The old language used the verb both for reward and for retribution: to pay someone back with good or with evil, and to take revenge.^[2][3] The 1688 Bible has it more than fifty times, often of God repaying the wicked.^[9] Klein's dictionary of 1801 glosses it with Latin retribuo.^[10] The reflexive a se răsplăti “to settle a debt, to get even” and the sense “to avenge” are now obsolete.^[2][3]

Modern Romanian uses it mainly for reward, material or moral, and for compensation.^[6][3] A rarer sense is “to pay for another's fault, to atone”.^[6][11]

Timeline

• c. 1642–1647 – “to avenge” in Grigore Ureche's chronicle.^[2]
• 1643 – the noun răsplată “reward, retribution”.^[2][3]
• 1688 – frequent in the Bucharest Bible.^[9]
• 1783 – “to reward”: „îți voi răsplăti slujba ta foarte bine” “I will reward your service very well”.^[2][5]
• 1801 – Klein's dictionary: răsplătesc, Latin retribuo.^[10]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To reward someone, materially or morally, for what they have done.^[6][3]
2. (transitive) To compensate, make good a loss.^[6][3]
3. (transitive, rare) To pay for someone else's deeds; to atone for a fault.^[6][3]
4. (transitive, dated) To punish a wrong; to avenge.^[3][2]

Word family

• răsplată
• răsplătire
• răsplătitor

Related words

• plăti
• plată
• Bulgarian разплатя (razplatja)

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. răsplătí
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 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. plăti
5. ^ a b Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. răsplăti
6. ^ a b c d e f DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 918
7. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 1, 535
8. ^ Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. răsplátă
9. ^ a b Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Deut 32:35
10. ^ a b Gáldi, László (ed.) (1944), Samuel Klein: Dictionarium valachico-latinum. Primul dicționar al limbii române, Budapest: Királyi Magyar Pázmány Péter Tudományegyetemi Román Intézet (Klein's dictionary of 1801, with Gáldi's etymological study), p. 431
11. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 3, 677