returna

Forms

returna (present returnez, third-person returnează, past participle returnat), first conjugation.^[1][2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French retourner.^[3][4][5][2] The French verb, recorded as Old French returnar in 842 and then as retorner, is formed from French re- + tourner.^[6][2][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

MDA2 and the DLR take the first record from Heliade-Rădulescu, where the verb is reflexive and means “to go back”: „se returna la tindă” “he went back to the porch”.^[3][4]

Semantic evolution

The reflexive sense “to go back, return” is now obsolete and rare.^[4][3] The modern verb is transitive, “to send back, give back”, as in French, where retourner has meant “to send back” since the 19th century.^[5][6] In sport it means returning the opponent's service.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. To return, to send or give something back.^[1][5][3]
2. (sports) To hit back the opponent's serve.^[3]
3. (obsolete, reflexive) To go back, to come back.^[4][3]

Related words

• retur
• turna
• French retourner

Usage notes

DEX lists two more verbs spelled returna, both formed in Romanian on turna with the prefix re-: returna¹ (present retorn) “to cast a mould or a piece again”, and returna² (present returnez) “to shoot a film again”.^[7][1]

References

1. ^ a b c 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. returna
2. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
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, 700
4. ^ a b c d Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. returna
5. ^ a b c Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. returna
6. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 950