respecta

Forms

respecta (third-person singular present respectă, past participle respectat, third-person subjunctive respecte), first conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French respecter.^{[2][3][4][5][1]} Tiktin instead derives it from the noun respect.^[6] The French verb is from Latin respectō.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to 1787, in a text by Cantacuzino.^[6] MDA2's first record is Simeon Marcovici's translation of Young's Night Thoughts (1835), where a gift is one that the nations have always honoured and „respectat”.^[3][4]

Semantic evolution

Early Romanian also adapted the verb as respectălui and respectarisi; both are now obsolete.^[6][4] The sense “to hold in esteem” came first;^[7] Negulici (1848) glosses it with a venera and a onora.^[7] The DLR's quotations show “to take into account” in Negruzzi and Alecsandri.^[4] The sense “to abide by” a law or contract is in DEX and the neologism dictionaries.^[2][5] MDA2 records a dialect form reștepta.^[3]

Timeline

• 1787 – first record, in a text by Cantacuzino.^[6]
• 1835 – in Marcovici's translation of Young.^[3][4]
• 1848 – in Negulici's dictionary of neologisms.^[7]
• 1862 – in Pontbriant's dictionary, glossed with French respecter, vénérer.^[8]

Meanings

Verb

1. To feel and show respect for someone or something; to esteem: Elevii își respectă profesorul.^[2][1]
2. To pay due attention to, to take into account.^[2]
3. (reflexive) To keep one's dignity.^[2]
4. To spare, not to harm or disturb.^[2]
5. To abide by a contract, a law or a commitment.^[2][1]

Related words

• respect
• respectabil
• respectuos
• French respecter

Usage notes

The present is respect, respecți, respectă; older texts also have respectez.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f 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. 946
3. ^ a b c d e Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 695
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. respecta
5. ^ a b Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. respecta
6. ^ a b c d Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. respecta
7. ^ a b c Negulici, I. D. (1848), Vocabular romînesc de toate vorbele streine întroduse pînă acum în limba romînească și de toate cuvintele ce s-ar mai putea introduce încă, București, p. s.v. respecta
8. ^ Pontbriant, Raoul de (1862), Dictiunaru romano-francesu, Bucuresci: A. Ulrich / Göttingen: Dieterich, p. 630