răsuna

Forms

răsuna (third-person singular present răsună, past participle răsunat, third-person subjunctive răsune) 1st conjugation^[1] Old texts also spell it resuna: Alecsandri's folk poems have „N-auziși tu buciumând Și văile resunând?” “didn't you hear the horns blowing and the valleys resounding?”.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin resonō (“to resound, echo”), according to DEX, MDA2, DLR and Wiktionary.^[3][4][5][1] The Latin verb is formed from re- (“back, again”) and sonō (“to sound”), the source of suna.^[1][6] It survives in Aromanian as arăsun.^[7][1]

Other dictionaries see a Romanian formation: Tiktin gives it as from Romanian răs- + suna beside the Latin verb that DLR gives, and DER lists it among the derivatives of the simple verb, formed after French résonner.^[2][8] rezona is a later borrowing of the same verb through French.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Coresi's Evanghelie cu învățătură of 1581, in a paraphrase of Saint Paul: „ca un glas de clopot răsunând”, “like the sound of a bell ringing out”.^[5][4][2]

Semantic evolution

From the first records it meant to sound loudly and long, to be heard far off.^[5][4] The Bucharest Bible of 1688 has it of ears that ring at terrible news: „vor răsuna amândoaă urechile lui”, “both his ears shall tingle” (1 Samuel 3:11).^[2] Dosoftei said of a bathhouse built so that it would resound well, that is, have a good echo.^[2] The subject can also be the place filled with sound, which echoes it back.^[9][2][4]

Figurative senses followed: a sound that seems still to be heard after it has stopped, words that strike a chord in someone, and a name that resounds, “to be famous”.^[3][4] In Moldavia a reflexive a se răsuna “to echo” was used.^[2]

Timeline

• 1581 – răsunând in Coresi's Evanghelie cu învățătură, the first record.^[5][4][2]
• c. 1678–1683 – răsun in a Slavonic–Romanian lexicon.^[10]
• 1688 – in the preface and the text of the Bucharest Bible.^[5][11]

Meanings

Verb

1. (intransitive) To sound loudly and long, to ring out; to be heard far off: Clopotele au răsunat peste tot satul.^[3][4][1]
2. (intransitive, of a place) To be filled with loud sounds; to echo, to resound.^[3][4]
3. (figurative) To seem still to be heard after the sound has stopped; to strike a chord in someone's soul.^[3][4]
4. (figurative) To be famous, widely spoken of.^[4]

Word family

• răsunător
• răsunet

Related words

• suna
• rezona
• Aromanian arăsun

Usage notes

A proverb has it: Butia cea goală răsună mai tare decât cea plină, “the empty barrel resounds louder than the full one”.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. răsuna
3. ^ a b c d e DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 919
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 646
5. ^ 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. răsuna
6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 133
8. ^ 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. suna
9. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 3, 682
10. ^ 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. răsun
11. ^ Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. 1 Sm 3:11