recomanda

Forms

recomanda (third-person singular present recomandă, past participle recomandat), 1st conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French recommander, also borrowed from New Latin recommendō.^[2][3][4] DEX 2009, the neologism dictionaries and DILF give only the French verb.^[5][6][7][8] Tiktin calls the Latin word New Latin and adds that the French one also came in through other languages.^[2]

The French verb is formed from re- and commander, or goes back to Latin re- and commendō (“to entrust”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to 1722, in a work of Cantemir, and lists the old verb recomăndălui from Cantemir.^[2] MDA2's first record is from Nicolau: „Mețena recomendă pre el lui Avgust” “Maecenas recommended him to Augustus”.^[3][4]

Semantic evolution

Before the modern form settled, the old language also had the verbs recomandarisi and recomandui, and the forms recomenda and recomânda.^[3][2] The first sense was commending someone or something to another's attention.^[4] A document of 1818 has the sense “propose for a post”, and the press of the 1840s recommends writings to its readers.^[4]

The reflexive a se recomanda “to introduce oneself” and the sense “to make introductions” follow French usage.^[2][5] Șăineanu also gives “to send a letter by registered post”, which MDA2 marks as dated.^[9][3]

Timeline

• 1722 – first record, in Cantemir.^[2]
• 1818 – “propose for a post”, in a document.^[4]
• 1845 – a writing recommended to the public.^[4]
• 1893 – Damé's dictionary glosses it with French recommander.^[10]
• 1929 – Șăineanu records the postal sense.^[9]

Meanings

Verb

1. To advise or urge someone to do something; to prescribe a medicine or a treatment: Medicul i-a recomandat să facă plimbări zilnice.^[5][3]
2. To recommend: to point someone or something out to another's attention, to speak in favour of; to propose someone for a post.^[5][3]
3. (reflexive) To introduce oneself;^[5] (transitive) to make introductions;^[5] (reflexive) to pass oneself off as.^[5]
4. (dated) To send a letter by registered post.^[3][9]

Word family

• recomandare
• recomandat

Related words

• comanda
• French recommander

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. recomanda
3. ^ a b c d e f g Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 669
4. ^ a b c d e f Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. recomanda
5. ^ a b c d e f g DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 929
6. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. recomanda
7. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. recomanda
8. ^ Costăchescu, Adriana; Dincă, Daniela; Dragoste, Ramona; Popescu, Mihaela; Scurtu, Gabriela (2009–2010), Dicționar de împrumuturi lexicale din limba franceză (DILF), 2 vols., Craiova: Universitaria, p. s.v. recomanda
9. ^ a b c Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 539
10. ^ Damé, Frédéric (1893–1895), Nouveau dictionnaire roumain-français, 4 vols., Bucarest: Imprimerie de l'État, p. s.v. recomanda