actriță

Forms

actriță f (plural actrițe, masculine equivalent actor)^[1] Old and rare variants are actrice and actrisă.^[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French actrice (“actress”), and, in its old legal sense “plaintiff”, borrowed from New Latin actrix.^[2][3][4] The DA describes it as formed after the French word.^[5] Wiktionary analyses it as the masculine actor with the feminine suffix -iță.^[1] Scriban took it from Russian актриса (aktrísa), itself from French.^[6] The French word continues Middle French actrice, from the same Latin word.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR's first record is from 1805, in a text by Aaron, where the word means a woman who brings a case, a “plaintiff”; the sense “actress” follows in 1830, in Căpățineanu.^[2] MDA2 cites Constantin Negruzzi first.^[7]

Semantic evolution

The legal sense, taken from Latin, has disappeared; the theatrical one, taken from French, is the only current one, extended to film.^[2][3] For a time it competed with actoriță, recorded from 1851 and now obsolete.^[2][3] In Negruzzi's prose: „Știu că e o absurditate a se bate cineva pentru ochii unei actrițe” “I know it is absurd for anyone to fight for an actress's eyes”.^[5] Scriban records a popular form afteoriță, from afteor.^[6]

Timeline

• 1805 – actriță “plaintiff” in Aaron, the first record.^[2]
• 1830 – actriță “actress” in Căpățineanu.^[2]
• 1851 – the competing actoriță in Stamati.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. An actress: a woman who plays roles in theatre plays, films and the like; actoriță.^[3][1]

Related words

• actor
• actoriță

References

1. ^ a b c d 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” (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. actor
3. ^ a b c d DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 10
4. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. actriță
5. ^ a b Academia Română (1913–1949), Dicționarul limbii române (DA), ed. Sextil Pușcariu, tom I (A–B, C, D–De) and tom II (F–I, J–Lojniță), București: Socec / Universul / Monitorul Oficial și Imprimeriile Statului; page scans at cflr-scans.solirom.ro, p. s.v. actriță
6. ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 67
7. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 12