tâmpenie

Forms

tâmpenie f (plural tâmpenii)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Romanian tâmp + -enie, from the adjective meaning “blunt; stupid”, as DEX, Wiktionary and the Romanian Wiktionary give it.^[2][1][3] The DLR, MDA2 and Tiktin derive it instead from the verb tâmpi “to make or become stupid”.^[4][5][6] Scriban compared a supposed Slavonic noun and a Russian one, which is his own view.^[7]

Tâmp is from Old Church Slavonic тѫпъ (tǫpŭ, “blunt”), from Proto-Slavic *tǫpъ.^[2][8][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is from Creangă, in 1881.^[6] In the Amintiri din copilărie Creangă says of the mangled speech of the unfortunate schoolmasters that it was a „cumplit meșteșug de tâmpenie” “a dreadful craft of stupefying”, the sense of making dull.^[9][5]

Semantic evolution

Beside the dulling of the mind, the word named the state of a person of little intelligence, and then concretely a foolish act or foolish words;^[5][4] MDA2 marks these last two senses as concrete.^[5][4] Jipescu used it for the folly of diplomats: „v-ați blestema tâmpenia” “you would curse the stupidity”.^[6] The DLRLC still kept “stupefying, making dull” as a rare sense.^[9] In modern usage it is the common word for “nonsense”.^[1][10]

Timeline

• 1881 – tâmpenie in Creangă, the first record.^[6]
• 1929 – Șăineanu glosses it as “idiocy”.^[11]
• 1939 – Scriban records the concrete sense “a stupid deed”.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. stupidity, idiocy: the state of a person of limited intelligence.^[2][5]
2. A foolish act: Ce tâmpenie ai făcut!^[5][1]
3. Foolish words, nonsense: Nu mai spune tâmpenii!^[5][2]
4. (rare) The act of dulling or stupefying, tâmpire.^[9]

Related words

• tâmp
• tâmpi
• tâmpit

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1109
3. ^ Wikționar (Romanian Wiktionary), ro.wiktionary.org
4. ^ a b c Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. tâmpenie
5. ^ a b c d e f g Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 1178
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. tâmpenie
7. ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1323
8. ^ 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. tîmp
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, 436
10. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. tâmpenie
11. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 638