reuși

Forms

reuși (third-person singular present reușește, past participle reușit) 4th conjugation^[1] An old variant reușa also occurs, and a rare third person reușaște.^[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Italian riuscire (“to succeed”), with French réussir as a second model: DEX, MDA2, DLR and Wiktionary name both, and Ciorănescu writes of the French verb combined with the Italian one.^{[3][2][4][1][5]} Tiktin too gives the Italian and French verbs as models, and Pontbriant in 1862 cited the Italian verb.^[6][7]

The Italian verb is a formation of ri- and uscire (“to go out”), first “to come out, lead to”, then “to turn out well”.^[8] Its second part continues Latin exeō (“to go out”).^[9] The French verb was taken from Italian in the 16th century.^[9][8] Graur grouped the word with ieși, Romanian's inherited descendant of the same Latin verb.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Curierul românesc of 1846: „N-a putut reuși spre a forma un nou cabinet” “he could not succeed in forming a new cabinet”.^[4][6][2]

Semantic evolution

The verb is used of people who manage to do something, followed by să or, in older texts, by a and the infinitive: Hasdeu wrote „Vornicul Dumbravă reușise a scăpa în Transilvania” “the Vornic Dumbravă had managed to escape to Transylvania”.^[4] Things can succeed too: a show or an experiment reușește when it turns out well.^[11] As a transitive verb it also means to carry something off with skill, as a painter does a portrait.^[11][3] Its old synonym was reieși.^[4][2]

Timeline

• 1846 – the first record, in the Curierul românesc.^[4][6]
• 1862 – in Pontbriant's dictionary, with French réussir.^[7]

Meanings

Verb

1. To succeed in doing something, to manage: N-am reușit să-l conving.^[3][1]
2. To turn out well, to be a success; to pass: a reuși la examen.^[3][12]
3. To do something with skill: Fotograful a reușit o imagine foarte bună.^[3][11]

Word family

• reușită
• reușire
• reușit
• nereușită

Related words

• ieși
• Italian riuscire
• French réussir

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 701
3. ^ a b c d e DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 950
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. reuși
5. ^ 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. reuși
6. ^ a b c Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. reuși
7. ^ a b Pontbriant, Raoul de (1862), Dictiunaru romano-francesu, Bucuresci: A. Ulrich / Göttingen: Dieterich, p. 635
8. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier, p. s.v. riuscire
9. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. réussir
10. ^ Graur, Alexandru (1980), Cuvinte înrudite, București: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică, p. 75
11. ^ 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, 738
12. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. reuși