revanșa

Forms

revanșa (present mă revanșez, third-person se revanșează, past participle revanșat), first conjugation, reflexive.^[1][2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French revancher, as all the dictionaries agree.^[3][4][1][5] The French verb, recorded from 1165, is formed with the prefix re- on vengier or its variant venchier, the old forms of venger (“to avenge”).^[6] That verb goes back to Latin vindicō.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

MDA2 and the DLR take the first record from Barcianu's Romanian–German dictionary, in the edition of 1900.^[3][4] The noun revanșă, from French revanche, is recorded a few years earlier, in Șăineanu's dictionary of 1896.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The verb means to pay someone back, for good or for ill.^[3][1] French dictionaries marked the good sense, repaying a favour, as familiar until 1878, and it later fell out of use there, while Romanian keeps both.^[6][1] In sport the verb means to beat an opponent who won the previous match.^[1][7]

Timeline

• 1900 – the verb, in Barcianu's dictionary.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. (reflexive) To pay someone back for a favour or, ironically, for a wrong; to take one's revenge.^[1][8]
2. (sports, reflexive) To beat an opponent who had won the previous match.^[1]

Related words

• revanșă
• French revancher

References

1. ^ 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. 950
2. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
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, 702
4. ^ a b Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. revanșa
5. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. revanșa
6. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. revanșa
8. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. revanșa