urmărire

Forms

urmărire f (plural urmăriri)^[1]

Etymology

It is the long infinitive of urmări, formed from Romanian urmări + -re.^[2][3][4][1] The verb is formed on a urma “to follow” with the suffix -ări according to MDA2 and the DLR,^[2][5] and on the noun urmă “trace, track” according to Wiktionary.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

MDA2 dates the noun to 1829, in the newspaper Albina românească, where the DLR places it under the sense “watching, observation”.^[2][3] Tiktin's first record is from 1838.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The noun follows the senses of the verb: following someone, often secretly, to watch, catch or arrest them; keeping someone under observation; the pursuit of game.^[3][2] In military language it is the offensive pursuit of a retreating enemy.^[6][2] In law it names the gathering of evidence by the police and the prosecutor and the legal steps taken to recover a debt; an agent de urmărire was an official who collected unpaid taxes.^[3][4] It also came to mean the study of a subject and the attending of courses or lectures.^[3]

Timeline

• 1829 – in Albina românească, in the sense “observation”.^[2][3]
• 1838 – Tiktin's first record.^[4]
• 1848 – the verb urmări, in an edition of I. Văcărescu's poems.^[2][7]
• 1870 – a se pune în urmărirea inamicilor “to set off in pursuit of the enemy” in Costinescu's dictionary.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act of following someone, often secretly, to watch, catch or arrest them; pursuit, chase.^[6][3][1]
2. Watching, surveillance, observation.^[2][3]
3. The chase of game by hunters.^[2][3]
4. (military) An offensive action against a retreating enemy, meant to destroy it.^[6]
5. (law) The gathering of evidence about an offence by the police or the prosecutor (urmărire penală “criminal prosecution”); legal action to recover a debt.^[9][2]
6. The study or examination of a subject; the attending of courses.^[3][2]

Related words

• urmă
• urma

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 1392
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. urmărire
4. ^ 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. urmărire
5. ^ Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. urmări
6. ^ a b c DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1176
7. ^ Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. urmări
8. ^ Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 2, 666
9. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. urmărire