sprijin

Forms

sprijin n (plural sprijine)^[1] Transylvanian and Banat texts have sprijană and sprâjană, as in Șincai's chronicle: „Mergând Iulian în coantra persilor, sprâjana sa o a tras de la dânsul” “as Julian marched against the Persians, [God] withdrew his support from him”.^[2] The plural is sprijine, rarely sprijinuri.^[3][4]

Etymology

DEX, MDA2 and Wiktionary give it as borrowed from Old Church Slavonic съпрѧженъ (sŭpręženŭ, “joined”), the past participle of a Slavonic verb meaning “to join, yoke together”.^[5][3][1] Tiktin took the same participle as the source, but thought that the verb sprijini was made from it first and the noun formed from the verb afterwards; the DLR only compares the Slavonic word.^[2][6]

Ciorănescu considers the verb of unknown origin and the noun its derivative.^[7] For him the ending -ni marks an expressive formation, and Candrea's link with the Slavonic participle is not certain.^[7] He thinks the earlier proposals still less likely: Cihac's derivation from opri (“to stop”) and Pușcariu's from prăjină (“pole”).^[7][8] Scriban too started from the pole, a verb meaning “to prop up with poles” like an overloaded fruit tree, and compared Polish sprężyna (“spring”).^[4] Ciorănescu himself suggests the phrase spre jur (“around”), through a verb meaning “to surround”.^[7] Șăineanu called it of unknown origin.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The verb sprijini is the older word: it is in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki of the early 16th century.^[3][10] Tiktin dates the noun to 1800, in Budai-Deleanu, and MDA2 to his Romanian–German lexicon.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

The first sense is concrete, the thing that holds something up so that it does not fall: a staff, a prop, a pillar under the eaves.^[6][5] The figurative help, protection, support is as old in the dictionaries: Scriban gives a friend who was someone's only support.^[4][6] Used of a person, it is the one who supports another, as in the folk song of the man whose old mother has „alt sprijin nu mai are” “no other support”.^[2][11] Common phrases are punct de sprijin “point of support”, în sprijinul “in support of” and a veni în sprijinul cuiva “to come to someone's aid”.^[2][11][12] In mechanics it names a support that restricts the movement of one part against another.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 1500-1520 – the verb sprijini in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki.^[3]
• 1800 – the noun in Budai-Deleanu;^[2] sprijană in his Prologue.^[2]
• 1818 – in Budai-Deleanu's Romanian–German lexicon.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A support, a prop: something that holds a thing up so that it does not fall.^[5][1]
2. (figurative) Help, assistance, protection;^[5][11] (concrete) a supporter, a protector.^[5][11]
3. (engineering) A support joining two solid parts of a system and restricting their movement.^[3]

Word family

• sprijini

Related words

• reazem
• proptea

Usage notes

A veni în sprijinul cuiva means to come to someone's help.^[11] Punct de sprijin is a point of support, a fulcrum.^[12]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. sprijin
3. ^ 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, 963
4. ^ a b c Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1, 1233
5. ^ a b c d e DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1043
6. ^ a b c Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. sprijin
7. ^ a b c d 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. sprijini
8. ^ Cihac, A. de (1879), Dictionnaire d'étymologie daco-romane II: Éléments slaves, magyars, turcs, grecs-moderne et albanais, Frankfurt am Main, p. 229
9. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 1, 610
10. ^ Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. sprijini
11. ^ a b c d e Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 4, 202
12. ^ a b Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. sprijin