surprinzător

Forms

surprinzător m or n (feminine singular surprinzătoare, masculine plural surprinzători, feminine/neuter plural surprinzătoare)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Romanian surprinde + -ător, from the verb “to surprise” with the agent suffix.^{[2][3][4][1][5]} The verb surprinde is borrowed from French surprendre, conjugated like Romanian prinde.^[2][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

MDA2 and DLR date the first record to 1844, in a periodical: „Multe lucruri deosebite, surprinzătoare să pot auzi adeseori din gurile murinzilor” “many strange, surprising things can often be heard from the mouths of the dying”.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

The adjective first meant what causes surprise by being unforeseen or unusual, and by extension what is impressive or astonishing.^[4][3] It is also used as an adverb, and before an adjective or adverb joined by de it works as an intensifier, “surprisingly”.^[2][6] Scriban (1939) marks it as a neologism.^[7]

Timeline

• 1844 – the first record, in a periodical.^[2][4]
• 1851 – the verb surprinde in Stamati's dictionary.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. surprising, unexpected: causing surprise or wonder.^[3][2][1]
2. Impressive, astonishing, extraordinary.^[3][8]

Adverb

1. In a surprising way: A răspuns surprinzător de calm. “He answered surprisingly calmly.”^[2][6]

Related words

• surprindere
• surpriză

References

1. ^ a b c d e 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, 1073
3. ^ a b c d DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1080
4. ^ a b c d Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. surprinzător
5. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România
6. ^ a b Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne
7. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună
8. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual