ridica

Forms

ridica (third-person singular present ridică, past participle ridicat, third-person subjunctive ridice; 1st conjugation)^[1]

Etymology

Its origin is disputed.^[2] The DLR, MDA2 and Wiktionary hold that it is inherited from Latin ērādīcō (“to root out”), from rādīx (“root”), the view of Tiktin, Candrea and Graur.^[3][4][1][2] The learned eradica continues the same Latin verb.^[1]

Ciorănescu prefers Late Latin ridicō (“to tie vines to stakes”), after Meyer-Lübke and the REW: Du Cange cites the verb, and it is formed on the noun ridica (“vine prop”); he compares Spanish rodrigón (“vine prop”).^[2][5][1] He explains the meaning from Romanian vine growing: each stock has its stake, the stocks are bent down and covered with earth in winter, and in spring they are raised again onto the stakes, so that “to stake” merged with “to raise”.^[2] Pușcariu proposed *rigidicō, from rigidus (“stiff”), and Cihac another Latin formation.^[2] Ciorănescu finds none of these, nor the derivation from the verb for “to root out”, convincing.^[2]

The verb survives south of the Danube as Megleno-Romanian rădic.^[2] Old and regional forms include rădica and aridica.^[2][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

MDA2's first record is the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki (c. 1500–1520), where the form rădica appears in Psalm 92:2.^[4][6] Tiktin quotes it from the Codicele Voronețean.^[7] A text of 1550–1600 quoted by the DLR tells of a stone fallen from the sky that no one could lift: „însă nime nu o putea rădica”.^[3]

Semantic evolution

From “to lift” the verb spread to almost every kind of raising: to erect a building or monument, to raise prices, to promote someone in rank, to raise a child, to raise troops or a revolt, and also to take away, to remove or to lift a ban.^[2][8][7] The reflexive means to get up, to rise into the air, to tower, to recover from an illness, to rebel, and of sums, to amount to.^[8][1][2] Tiktin records a ridica vița “to tie the vines to the stakes”, the sense on which Ciorănescu bases his etymology.^[7][2]

Ciorănescu, after Candrea, notes that Slovak, Czech and Polish borrowed the verb, among them Polish redikać (“to leave”).^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1500–1520 – rădica in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki, the first record.^[4][6]
• 16th century – in the Codicele Voronețean.^[7]
• 1550–1600 – rădica “to lift” a stone, in a text quoted by the DLR.^[3]
• 1570 – rădica in Coresi's psalter.^[9]

Meanings

Verb

1. To lift, to pick up and raise; to raise a hand, the eyes or the head.^[8][1]
2. To take off or away, to remove; to collect money or goods; to arrest;^[8] a ridica ședința “to close the meeting”.^[8]
3. To put upright; to erect a building or monument.^[8][2]
4. To increase prices, a level or a quality; to promote someone.^[8][1][2]
5. Reflexive: to get up, to stand up; to rise into the air; to recover after an illness.^[8][1]
6. Reflexive: to rise up against, to rebel.^[2][8]
7. Reflexive, of sums: to amount to.^[1]

Word family

• ridicat
• ridicătură
• ridicător
• ridicare

Related words

• eradica
• rădăcină

Usage notes

A ridica mănușa means “to take up the challenge”, and a ridica din umeri “to shrug one's shoulders”.^[8]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o 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. ridica
3. ^ a b c Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. ridica
4. ^ 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, 709
5. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 7303
6. ^ a b Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Ungureanu, Mădălina; Moruz, Alexandru et al., roPsalt: Re-evaluating the Sixteenth Century Romanian Psalters (aligned corpus), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. Ps 92:2
7. ^ 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. ridica
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 955
9. ^ Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Ungureanu, Mădălina; Moruz, Alexandru et al., roPsalt: Re-evaluating the Sixteenth Century Romanian Psalters (aligned corpus), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. Ps 101:25