răspunde

Forms

răspunde (third-person singular present răspunde, past participle răspuns, third-person subjunctive răspundă), 3rd conjugation^[1] Old and regional texts have the first person răspunz and subjunctive să răspunză beside răspund and să răspundă.^[2][3] The 19th century often spelled it respunde, as in Bălcescu's îi respunseră “they answered him”.^[4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin respondō (“to answer”), a remaking in the third conjugation of respondeō.^[1][2][3][4] The change of conjugation is attested in the Mulomedicina Chironis.^[1] The Classical verb was formed from re- (“back”) and spondeō (“to promise solemnly”), first a religious term for fulfilling a solemn engagement.^[5][6]

The verb survives in Aromanian respun and Istro-Romanian respundesc.^[2] Its Romance cognates include Italian rispondere, French répondre, Spanish responder and Portuguese responder.^[2][7] The noun răspuns continues responsum.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Psaltirea Hurmuzaki of the early 16th century has răspunde.^[8] MDA2 gives the Codicele Voronețean (c. 1563–1583) as the first record, where Festus, after consulting his council, answers that Paul will go to Caesar; the sense is “to answer”.^[3][4]

Semantic evolution

Besides “to answer”, older Romanian used the verb for paying a sum due;^[9] Tiktin quotes a document of 1814 on paying one's tax where one lives.^[9] “To correspond to (a thing)”, “to vouch for, be answerable for” and, of streets and rooms, “to lead into, open onto” are also recorded.^[9][2] Of pains and sensations it means “to spread, be felt as far as”.^[10] In Moldavia the reflexive a se răspunde meant “to keep in touch with someone” and, colloquially, “to answer a call”.^[9]

From the verb come răspundere “responsibility” and răspunzător “responsible”;^[8] corespunde is a related formation.^[2]

Timeline

• early 16th century – răspunde in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki.^[8]
• c. 1563–1583 – răspunse “answered” in the Codicele Voronețean.^[3][4]
• 1570 – răspunse in Coresi's psalter.^[11]
• 1607 – să știe răspunde “let him know how to answer” in a document.^[4]
• 1649 – răspunde and răspuns in Mardarie's Slavonic–Romanian lexicon.^[12]
• 1814 – the sense “to pay (a sum due)”.^[9]

Meanings

Verb

1. To answer, reply to a question or to words addressed to one; to answer an examiner.^[10][1]
2. To react with words, gestures or attitudes; to retort; to answer a letter.^[10]
3. To be an explanation for a question.^[10]
4. To answer a call or an appeal; to obey.^[10]
5. (figurative) To satisfy;^[10] (dated) to correspond, match.^[10]
6. To lead to, open onto; of sensations, to spread, be felt.^[10]
7. (reflexive, dated) To keep in touch with someone.^[10]
8. To be responsible, answer for one's own or another's actions; to vouch for someone.^[10]
9. (transitive, dated) To pay a sum of money.^[10]

Word family

• răspuns
• răspunzător
• răspundere
• nerăspunzător

Related words

• corespunde
• Latin respondeō

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g 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. răspunde
3. ^ 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, 643
4. ^ 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. răspunde
5. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 7400
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 101:23
9. ^ a b c d e Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. răspunde
10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 918
11. ^ 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 101:24
12. ^ 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. răspunde