administrație

Forms

administrație f (plural administrații)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French administration, with Latin administrātiō as a second model, as DEX and MDA2 give it for the main sense;^[1] Tiktin and Wiktionary name French alone.^[2][3][4][1] DEX takes the military sense from Russian администрация (administracija), and MDA2 and Tiktin also compare the Russian word.^[2][3][4] DELR puts German Administration, the Latin noun and the Russian word first, with French reinforcing them later.^[5] Marcu & Maneca add Italian amministrazione.^[6] The Latin noun is formed from administrō (“to aid, to manage”) with the suffix -tiō.^[7]

Old variants were administrațiune and a neuter administrațion.^[5][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR dates the first record to 1722, in a document published in the collection Doc. agr., and Tiktin has a record of 1723.^[5][4] The sense is the management of affairs, the administration of an estate or office.^[5]

Semantic evolution

From the act of managing, the word came to name the bodies that manage: the administrative organs of a state, and the department of an institution or enterprise in charge of running it.^[2][3] Pisone's dictionary of 1865 glosses it with gubernare, and Latin, German and French equivalents.^[8]

The army sense, the service that cared for the troops' food and clothing, later the part of the army dealing with supply and mobilisation, is the one DEX traces to Russian.^[2][9] The set phrases consiliu de administrație “board of directors”, administrație de stat and administrație locală belong to the modern language.^[2][10]

The verb administra is recorded from 1742 (as administrălui), the agent noun administrator from 1787 and the adjective administrativ from 1829.^[5]

Timeline

• 1722 – first record, in a document of Doc. agr..^[5]
• 1723 – a record cited by Tiktin.^[4]
• 1742 – the verb, as administrălui.^[5]
• 1787 – administrator.^[5]
• 1829 – administrativ.^[5]
• 1865 – Pisone glosses it with gubernare.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. The administration of a state: all its administrative bodies;^[1] administrație de stat, administrație locală (the local council with the mayor or prefect).^[2][3][1]
2. The department of an institution or enterprise in charge of managing it;^[11] consiliu de administrație “board of directors”.^[2][3]
3. (military) The part of the army in charge of organising, supplying and mobilising the forces; the government of an occupied territory by the occupying military.^[2][3]
4. (dated) The act of administering; administrare.^[3]

Related words

• administra
• administrator
• administrativ
• Latin administrātiō

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 14
3. ^ a b c d e f g Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 17
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. administrație
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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
6. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b Pisone, Domițian (1865), Dictionariu românescu, latinescu, germanescu și francescu, lucrat după sistemul Lexiconului de Buda, București: Typografia Ioann Weiss, p. 6
9. ^ Academia Republicii Populare Romîne (1958), Dicționarul limbii romîne moderne, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1, 10
10. ^ Dimitrescu, Florica (1997), Dicționar de cuvinte recente, 2nd ed., București: Logos (with the 3rd ed., 2013, in CLRE), p. s.v. administrație
11. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 40