regăsi

Forms

regăsi (third-person singular present regăsește, past participle regăsit) 4th conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Romanian re- + găsi on the model of French retrouver.^[2][3][4][5] Wiktionary gives only the prefix and the verb.^[1] The French verb is itself formed with re- on trouver.^[1] The origin of găsi is uncertain: Ciorănescu follows the derivation from the Slavonic verb for “to extinguish”, whose sense is hard to reconcile with “to find”, and Wiktionary calls it unknown.^[6][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first quotation in the DLR and MDA2 is from a poem by Eminescu, in the sense “to find again”: „N-aș regăsi în veci chipu-ți ușor” “I would never find your light face again”.^[4][3] MDA2 cites it from Perpessicius's critical edition of 1939, which is not the date of the poem.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Besides finding a person or thing again, the verb is used reflexively for being in the same place or situation again and, reciprocally, for people meeting again after a long time.^[2][7] Eminescu already used regăsindu-te pe tine in the figurative sense of recovering one's composure, which the dictionaries record as “to collect oneself”.^[7][2] MDA2 adds “to recognise (oneself)”.^[3]

Timeline

• 1893–1895 – listed in Damé's Romanian–French dictionary, which the DLR cites after Eminescu.^[4]
• 1929 – Șăineanu gives four senses, from “to find again” to “to be in the same state as before”.^[8]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To find someone or something again; to retrieve.^[2][3][1]
2. (reciprocal) To meet again: Ne-am regăsit după douăzeci de ani.^[2]
3. (reflexive) To be again in the same place or situation.^[2][3]
4. (reflexive, figurative) To recover one's composure or balance after an inner struggle.^[2][7]
5. (transitive, reflexive) To recognise (oneself) in someone or something.^[3]

Related words

• găsi
• French retrouver

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. 936
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, 678
4. ^ a b c Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. regăsi
5. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. regăsi
6. ^ 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. găsi
7. ^ a b c Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 3, 712
8. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 541