adică

Forms

In the old texts the usual form was adecă, as in Coresi's Psalter: „Că adecă păcătoșii întinseră arcul” “for lo, the wicked bend their bow” (Psalm 10:2).^[1] Regional speech has a short form dică, above all in the phrase la dică.^[2][3]

Etymology

Its origin is not settled: DEX and the DA call it of unknown origin, and DELR calls it uncertain.^[2][4] Ciorănescu takes it as inherited from Latin adaequē (“equally, in like manner”), an adverb found in medieval glossaries, and calls the other proposals far-fetched.^[5] Wiktionary names the same Latin adverb, or adde quod (“add that”).^[6] That explanation, held by Ebeling, Candrea, Pușcariu and Tiktin, is hard to accept, DELR says, because the old texts use the word only for “behold”, and the sense “in other words” appears only around the middle of the 17th century.^[4]

DELR suggests instead that Latin adest (“is present”) gave a word for “here is”, to which că was added, as in iată că.^[4] Procopovici had proposed the same verb followed by eccum (“behold”), but DELR objects that the old stress on the first syllable, usual until the 18th century, does not fit it.^[4] Other proposals were Subak's imperative *addicā (“show!”), Scriban's ad id quod (“to that which”), Crețu's vidē eccum (“see, here it is”) and Hasdeu's ad dicam, which he linked to Ancient Greek δίκη (díkē, “justice”).^[4][5][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR dates the first record, in the form adecă, to about 1500, in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki.^[4] MDA2 cites the Codicele Voronețean (c. 1563).^[3] In these texts it means “behold, lo”: Coresi's Psalter has „Că adecă păcătoșii întinseră arcul” “for lo, the wicked bend their bow”.^[1][4]

Semantic evolution

The old sense “behold” was used to open documents, where it matched Slavonic usage: a deed of 1675 begins „Adecă eu Anița și cu frate-mieu … scriem și mărturisim” “we, Anița and my brother, write and declare”.^[1] The explaining sense “that is, namely” spread from the middle of the 17th century; a Menaion of 1698 says that Agathon came „den Italiia, adecă den țara frâncească” “from Italy, that is, from the land of the Franks”.^[4][1] The sense “behold” is now obsolete, and DELR records it only among the Romanians of Hungary.^[4] The stress also moved: ádecă was usual until the 18th century, while adícă is now the common form.^[4][5]

Romanian added clitic pronouns to the word, as Procopovici explained: adecăte (1634) has te, adicăle (1785) has le, and adicătele (1825) combines both.^[4] Scriban criticised writers who overused the word to translate German nämlich.^[7] Ciorănescu notes that Romani adaki (“only”) was borrowed from Romanian.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 1500 – adecă in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki, the first record.^[4]
• c. 1563 – in the Codicele Voronețean.^[3]
• 1634 – adecăte, with the pronoun te.^[4]
• 1675 – adecă opening a deed.^[1]
• 1677 – adecătea.^[4]
• 1698 – the sense “that is” in a printed Menaion.^[1]
• 1785 – adicăle.^[4]
• 1825 – adecătele in the Lexicon de la Buda.^[4]
• 1877 – adicălea in Creangă.^[4]
• 1880 – adicătelea in Slavici.^[4]

Meanings

Adverb

1. That is, namely, in other words: introduces an explanation of what was just said.^[2][6]
2. After all, in the end; or rather: introduces a correction.^[2][8]
3. (as a question) Meaning what? Ce vrei să spui, adică?^[8][9]
4. (obsolete) behold, lo.^[3][4]

Word family

• adicăte
• adicăle
• adicălea
• adicătele
• adicătelea

Related words

• iată
• Latin adaequē

Usage notes

La (o) adică (regionally la dică) means “to tell the truth” and “if it comes to it, at the decisive moment”.^[2][3] The stress is usually adícă;^[2][5] ádică is also heard.^[2][5]

References

1. ^ 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. adică
2. ^ a b c d e f g DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 13
3. ^ a b c d e Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 16
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s 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. adică
5. ^ a b c d e f 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. adică
6. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
7. ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 70
8. ^ a b Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1, 25
9. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. adică