administra

Forms

administra (third-person singular present administrează, past participle administrat) 1st conjugation^[1] Older variants are administrălui, administrirui and administrui, the last two from Transylvania.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French administrer, with borrowed from Latin administrō, the Latin neologism of the 19th century.^{[2][4][5][3][1]} Ciorănescu names only the French verb.^[6] The Latin verb is formed from ad- and ministrō (“to serve, manage, provide”), from minister (“servant”), which belongs with minor and minus (“less”), as magister belongs with magis (“more”).^[2] The French verb, Old French administreir at the end of the 12th century, is a relatinized form of older aministrer.^[7]

The older variants have their own sources: the one in ⟨-ălui⟩ is Hungarian adminisztrál, and the one in ⟨-irui⟩ German administrieren.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR's first record is the variant administrălui in 1742; the form administra appears in 1824, on the title page of a work by Popovici.^[2] Tiktin dates the verb to 1744, in the Uricariul.^[3] Bălcescu wrote that Michael the Brave saw himself in Transylvania only as a governor, „spre a administra țara și a o păzi de năvălirile dușmanilor” “to administer the country and guard it from enemy raids”.^[8]

Semantic evolution

The first sense was to run the affairs of a person, a society or the state.^[9] The medical sense, to give a patient a medicine, came with the French verb, and an ironic use followed: to administer a slap or a beating.^[9][3][4] In law, a administra o probă is to bring a piece of evidence in a trial.^[4] The family came by several routes: administrație (1722) from German, Latin and Russian, later reinforced by French;^[2] administrator (1787) from German, Latin and French;^[2] administrativ (1829) from French.^[2] Ciorănescu connects administrație with Russian администрация (administracija).^[6]

Timeline

• 1722 – administrație, the first member of the family.^[2]
• 1742 – the variant administrălui.^[2]
• 1744 – the verb in the Uricariul.^[3]
• 1787 – administrator.^[2]
• 1824 – the form administra.^[2]
• 1829 – administrativ.^[2]
• 1855 – subadministrator.^[2]
• 1909 – administrabil.^[2]
• 1935 – autoadministrare, the first record of autoadministra.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To manage, run or govern an institution, a business or an estate.^[4][1]
2. To give a patient a medicine or a treatment;^[4][5] (ironic) to give someone a beating.^[4][5]
3. (law) In a administra o probă: to bring a piece of evidence in a trial.^[4]

Word family

• administrabil
• administrativ
• administrator
• administrație
• autoadministra
• subadministrator

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 l m n o p 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. administra
3. ^ 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. administrá
4. ^ 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. 14
5. ^ 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. 1, 17
6. ^ a b 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. administra
7. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. administrer
8. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1, 27
9. ^ 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. administra