sugera

Forms

sugera (third-person singular present sugerează, past participle sugerat) 1st conjugation^[1] Under French influence it was also spelled suggera: „Căutase să-i suggereze posibilitatea unei astfel de soluționări” “he had tried to suggest to him the possibility of such a solution” (Teodoreanu).^[2][3] A rare present suger stands beside sugerez.^[3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French suggérer (“to suggest”).^[3][2][4][1] The neologism dictionaries compare, or add, Latin suggerō (“to put under, supply”).^[5][6] The French verb is a learned borrowing of the Latin one, which is formed sub- and gerō (“to carry”).^[7] Graur lists it with digera, exagera and the other Romanian words of the same Latin family.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is Heliade's translation of Byron's Don Juan (1847): the story „cată să fi sugerat” “must have suggested” that the daughter could only be Julia.^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

The verb kept the French sense of putting a thought into someone's mind without saying it outright, by a hint or an association of ideas.^[2][4] Vlahuță uses it of a hint meant to prompt a poem.^[2][9] A thing can be the subject too, as when a figure “suggests” elegance; hence the sense “to evoke, call up an image”.^[9][3] Rarely it also means “to influence by suggestion”, the sense of sugestiona.^[3]

Timeline

• 1847 – sugerat in Heliade's translation of Don Juan.^[3][2]
• 1929 – Șăineanu glosses it “to put into the mind, inspire”.^[10]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To suggest: to put a thought, idea or feeling into someone's mind by a hint or an association of ideas; to inspire: I-am sugerat să plece mai devreme.^[4][3][1]
2. (transitive) To make someone imagine something; to evoke: Culorile tabloului sugerează toamna.^[3][9]
3. (rare) To influence by suggestion; to sugestiona.^[3]

Related words

• sugestie
• sugestiona
• digera
• exagera
• French suggérer

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. sugera
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 1049
4. ^ a b c DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1071
5. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. sugera
6. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. sugera
7. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. suggérer
8. ^ Graur, Alexandru (1980), Cuvinte înrudite, București: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică, p. 49
9. ^ a b c Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 4, 299
10. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 1, 627