încredere

Forms

încredere f (uncountable)^[1]

Etymology

It is from Romanian încrede (“to trust”) + -re, the long infinitive of the verb used as a noun.^{[1][2][3][4][5]} The verb, recorded from 1581 in a Coresi print, joins the prefix în- to crede “to believe”.^[6][2] The latter continues Latin crēdō (“to believe, trust”).^[7] Aromanian has a matching verb, Aromanian ncred.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR and Tiktin both date the first record to 1818, in a manual by Mihuț, with the sense “trust in someone's honesty and good faith”.^[2][4] MDA2 cites it first from Costache Negruzzi.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The noun names both the act of trusting and the feeling of safety about another person's honesty or sincerity, and also confidence in one's own strength.^[5][3] The Lexicon de la Buda of 1825 glosses it with Latin fiducia and confidentia and German Vertrauen, Zutrauen.^[8] Pontbriant (1862) adds “credulity” for too much trust.^[9] Barițiu's Hungarian dictionary of 1869 gives it for Hungarian bizalom (“trust”).^[10]

Political use brought vot de încredere “vote of confidence”, beside om de încredere “a trusted person”.^[4][5] The negative neîncredere “mistrust, suspicion” is recorded from 1832, in Asachi.^[2]

Timeline

• 1818 – încredere “trust”, in Mihuț's manual, the first record.^[2][4]
• 1825 – in the Lexicon de la Buda, glossed “fiducia, confidentia”.^[8]
• 1832 – neîncredere “mistrust”, in Asachi.^[2]
• 1869 – the equivalent of Hungarian bizalom in Barițiu's dictionary.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. trust, faith: the feeling of security about someone's honesty, good faith or sincerity: Am încredere în prietenii mei.^[5][3][1]
2. Reliance on someone or something, belief that someone tells the truth.^[3]
3. confidence in one's own powers or in the rightness of an idea.^[3][1]
4. In phrases: om de încredere “a person one can trust with any secret or task”, vot de încredere “vote of confidence” in parliament.^[5][4]

Word family

• neîncredere

Related words

• încrede
• crede
• credință

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2011–), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române (DELR), vol. I: A–B (2011), vol. II: C (2015–2018), București: Editura Academiei Române; continued online at delr.lingv.ro, p. s.v. încrede
3. ^ 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. 1, 1216
4. ^ a b c d e Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. încredere
5. ^ a b c d e DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 542
6. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 1215
7. ^ Cihac, A. de (1870), Dictionnaire d'étymologie daco-romane I: Éléments latins comparés avec les autres langues romanes, Frankfurt am Main, p. 62
8. ^ a b Lesicon românescu-latinescu-ungurescu-nemțescu quare de mai mulți autori, în cursul a trideci și mai multor ani s-au lucrat (1825), Buda: Typographia Universității (the Lexicon of Buda, ed. Petru Maior et al.), p. 292
9. ^ Pontbriant, Raoul de (1862), Dictiunaru romano-francesu, Bucuresci: A. Ulrich / Göttingen: Dieterich, p. 337
10. ^ a b Barițiu, George (1869), Dictionariu unguresc-romanescu, Brașov, p. 49