sfătui

Forms

sfătui (present sfătuiesc, third-person singular sfătuiește, past participle sfătuit); 4th conjugation^[1][2] Old texts also write svătui: „cela ce va svătui pre altul sau-l va îndemna să fure, să va certa ca un fur” “whoever advises or urges another to steal shall be punished as a thief”, in an old law code.^[3] MDA2 lists sfetui, svătui and svetui as old variants.^[4]

Etymology

It is formed from Romanian sfat + -ui, from the noun for “advice, council”.^[2][4][1][5] MDA2 compares Old Church Slavonic съвѣтовати (sŭvětovati, “to advise”).^[4] The noun sfat is from Old Church Slavonic съвѣтъ (sŭvětŭ, “council, advice”), and Ciorănescu notes that soviet, from Russian, is its doublet.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest record is the past tense sfătuiră “they took counsel” in the Psaltirea Voronețeană of about 1551–1558 (Psalm 82:5).^[6] Tiktin cites the Psaltirea Scheiană, and MDA2 the Codicele Voronețean, both of the 16th century.^[7][4] Coresi's psalters of 1570 and 1577 have the infinitive and other forms.^[8]

Semantic evolution

In the old texts the reflexive and intransitive verb meant “to deliberate, to take counsel together”, and the old chronicles also used it for “to decide”.^[7] The transitive sense “to advise someone” is found in Coresi's Gospel commentaries.^[3] MDA2 records a rare old use “to prescribe” of medicines.^[4] In popular speech the verb also means “to chat, to talk at leisure”, as in Sadoveanu.^[7][2]

Timeline

• c. 1551–1558 – sfătuiră in the Psaltirea Voronețeană.^[6]
• c. 1563–1583 – in the Codicele Voronețean.^[4]
• 1570 – sfătui and sfătuia in Coresi's psalter.^[9]
• 1573–1578 – in the Psaltirea Scheiană.^[8][7]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To advise or counsel someone; to urge: Medicul l-a sfătuit să se odihnească.^[2][4]
2. (reflexive) To ask someone's opinion; to consult with someone, to reach an understanding.^[2][4]
3. (intransitive, popular) To chat, to talk at leisure.^[2][7]

Word family

• sfătuitor

Related words

• sfat
• sfetnic
• consfătui

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1011
3. ^ a b Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. sfătui
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 871
5. ^ a b 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. sfat
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 82:5
7. ^ a b c d e Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. sfătui
8. ^ 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 83:6
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 24:11