supraveghea

Forms

supraveghea (third-person singular present supraveghează, past participle supravegheat), 1st conjugation.^[1][2]

Etymology

It is formed from Romanian supra- + veghea (“to watch, keep vigil”) on the model of French surveiller, whose parts it translates.^{[3][4][2][5][1]} Marcu's dictionary of neologisms simply gives it as modelled on the French verb.^[6] The French verb is itself sur- and veiller, corresponding to Latin super (“on top of”) and vigilō (“to watch”).^[1] veghea is inherited from *viglāre, from the same Latin verb.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest record found is in Costinescu's dictionary of 1870, as supraveghia, supraveghiare “to watch over someone or something so that all goes well, with care and exactness”, glossed by French surveiller; it also lists supraveghiare “surveillance” and supraveghiător.^[7] MDA2 and the DLR give as their first text Ion Ghica's Convorbiri economice (cited in its 1887 third edition), where a worker has only to watch the starting and stopping of the machine: „Omul nu are decît să supravegheze pornirea şi oprirea machinei”.^[3][4]

Semantic evolution

Damé's dictionary also has supraveghia “surveiller”, the DLR cites later dictionaries for it (DDRF, Barcianu, Alexi), and Șăineanu defines it as keeping watch with attention and authority.^[3][8] In 20th-century prose it is used of overseeing work, a printing or a construction site, and of keeping a person under watch, as Iorga, Rebreanu and Sadoveanu use it.^[3] The reflexive “to watch one's words and behaviour” appears in Camil Petrescu.^[9][3]

Timeline

• 1870 – supraveghia and supraveghiare “surveillance” in Costinescu.^[7]
• 1887 – supravegheze in Ion Ghica's Convorbiri economice, the edition MDA2 cites.^[4][3]

Meanings

Verb

1. To supervise or oversee an activity or people's conduct with attention and authority; to keep under control.^[2][4]
2. To watch over, to guard closely so as to prevent something dangerous or unwanted: Mama supraveghea copiii la joacă.^[4][10]
3. (reflexive) To watch what one says or does; to control oneself.^[4][5]

Word family

• supraveghere
• supraveghetor

Related words

• priveghea
• veghea

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1078
3. ^ 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. supraveghea
4. ^ a b c d e f Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 1068
5. ^ a b Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. supraveghea
6. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. supraveghea
7. ^ a b Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 2, 585
8. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 1, 630
9. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 4, 314
10. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. supraveghea