timp

Forms

timp n or m (plural timpuri or timpi)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin tempus (“time”).^[2][3][1] The Latin word comes from Proto-Indo-European *tempos (“stretch”).^[1] It survives as Megleno-Romanian timp.^[2][4] Aromanian keeps only the derivative timburiu (“early”).^[5][2][6] Its Romance cognates include Italian tempo, French temps, Spanish tiempo and Portuguese tempo.^[2][5]

The derivative timpuriu “early” is probably formed from the plural ⟨timpuri⟩, as Ciorănescu thinks, while Densusianu, Pușcariu and the REW trace it to Vulgar Latin *temporīvus.^[2] Pușcariu took răstimp “interval” to be a Slavonic loan reshaped after this word, and anotimp “season” to be a learned formation modelled on German.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to the Palia de la Orăștie (1581–1582), in Genesis 48:7, where it means a season of the year;^[7][3] MDA2 cites the same text.^[7][3]

Semantic evolution

The word long competed with vreme, which the DLR names as its rival in every sense.^[8] Tiktin records the senses “season” (now obsolete, replaced by anotimp), “weather” and “year”, the last only in estimp “this year”.^[7] Pușcariu compares the sense “weather” with Latin tempestās and Italian temporale.^[5]

In the 19th century timp became the scientific term: timp și spațiu “time and space”, and the tenses of the verb.^[7] Old texts also have a masculine plural timpi, now kept for the phases of a movement, the strokes of an engine and the beats of a bar.^[7][9]

Timeline

• 1581–1582 – first record, in the Palia de la Orăștie.^[7]
• 1814 – în orice timp “at any time” in a calendar.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. time: the medium, like space, in which events follow one another irreversibly.^[9][1]
2. A period or duration: N-am timp. “I have no time.”;^[9] din timp în timp “from time to time”.^[9]
3. An epoch, historical period: pe timpuri “in the old days”.^[9]
4. weather.^[9][1]
5. (masculine, plural timpi) A phase of a movement or operation; a stroke of an engine; a beat in music: motor în patru timpi.^[9]
6. (grammar) tense.^[9]

Word family

• timpuriu
• pretimpuriu
• anotimp

Related words

• răstimp
• vreme
• Megleno-Romanian timp
• Latin tempus

Usage notes

The plural is timpuri; in the sense “phase, beat” it is timpi.^[9]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e 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. timp
3. ^ a b c Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 1219
4. ^ Capidan, Theodor (1935), Meglenoromânii III: Dicționar meglenoromân, București: Academia Română, p. 294
5. ^ a b c d Pușcariu, Sextil (1905), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der rumänischen Sprache I: Lateinisches Element, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 159
6. ^ Pascu, Giorge (1925), Dictionnaire étymologique macédoroumain, 2 vols. (I: Les éléments latins et romans; II: Les éléments grecs, turcs, slaves, albanais, germaniques, magyars, néologismes, créations immédiates, obscurs), Iași: Cultura Națională, p. 1, 169
7. ^ a b c d e f Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. timp
8. ^ a b Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. timp
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1126