spune

Forms

spune (third-person singular present spune, past participle spus) third conjugation^[1] Old and popular forms include the first person spui, the old infinitive spunea and spone, the perfect spuș and the subjunctive să spuie.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin expōnō (“to set out, explain”), from ex- and pōnō (“to place, put”).^[3][2][1][4] The neologism expune is a later loan of the same Latin verb.^[1]

The verb survives in Aromanian aspun, Megleno-Romanian spun and Istro-Romanian spur; in Aromanian it also means “to show”.^[3][5][6] Its Romance cognates include Italian esporre, Occitan esponer, Old French espondre, Spanish exponer and Portuguese expor.^[3][4] DER compares Albanian špuń (“to teach, instruct”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

MDA2 dates the first record to the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki of about 1500, and Tiktin cites Neacșu's letter of 1521.^[2][6] The oldest sense was “to show, indicate”: a 16th-century psalter quoted by DLR has „Spusu-mi-ai cale de viață” “you have shown me the path of life”.^[7]

Semantic evolution

The old sense “to show” gave way to “to say, tell”, while Aromanian kept “to show”.^[7][6][3] The old language also used the verb for submitting a request and, reflexively, for appearing before someone.^[7][2] From “to tell” came “to tell a story, recite”, “to confess” and “to inform on someone”.^[3][8]

The phrase cine mi-l spune? “who will tell me it?” gave cimili “to guess a riddle”, according to Weigand in the REW.^[4] Derivatives include spus, nespus “unspeakable” and spusă “saying”.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 1500 – first record, in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki.^[2]
• 1521 – in Neacșu's letter.^[6]
• 16th century – “to show”: „Spusu-mi-ai cale de viață” in a psalter.^[7]

Meanings

Verb

1. To say, express in words: Ce-ai spus?;^[8][2] Nu mai spune! “you don't say!”^[8][2]
2. (figurative) To mean something to someone, call up feelings or memories: Numele acesta nu-mi spune nimic.^[8]
3. To tell, relate, narrate; of a text, to state; to recite.^[8]
4. To reveal, confess; to inform on someone.^[8]
5. To explain something to someone.^[8]
6. To call, name;^[8] (reflexive, impersonal) to be called: Așa i se spune.^[8]
7. (obsolete) To show, indicate.^[7][2]

Word family

• spus
• nespus
• spusă
• spunere

Related words

• expune
• Aromanian aspun
• Latin expōnō

Usage notes

A-i spune cuiva inima means “to have a feeling, a presentiment”.^[8]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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, 966
3. ^ a b c d e f g 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. spune
4. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 3054
5. ^ Capidan, Theodor (1935), Meglenoromânii III: Dicționar meglenoromân, București: Academia Română, p. 272
6. ^ 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. spune
7. ^ 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. spune
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. 1044