admira

Forms

admira (third-person singular present admiră, past participle admirat, third-person subjunctive admire), 1st conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French admirer, borrowed from Latin admīror (“to wonder at, admire”): DELR, MDA2, DEX, MDN and DILF name both sources.^{[2][3][4][5][6]} DER, Tiktin and the DA give French alone, while Wiktionary describes a Latin borrowing modelled on French.^[7][8][9][1]

The Latin verb is formed from ad- and mīror (“to wonder, admire”), which comes from mīrus (“surprising, wonderful”).^[2][10] The French verb is a 16th-century relatinized form of Old French amirer (1360).^[11][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR and Tiktin date the first record to 1794, in a calendar printed in Vienna.^[2][8] MDA2 dates it later, by the 1872 edition of C. Negruzzi's writings, where the Academy admired the superior talents of Prince Cantemir.^[3][9]

Semantic evolution

The sense has been “to look at something or someone with delight, esteem or wonder” throughout.^[2][4] Negulici (1848) defines it as “to look at a thing with wonder” and gives both presents, admir and admirez.^[12] An ironic use, “to marvel at something unworthy”, is old: Eminescu's „O, te-admir progenitură de origine romană!” “Oh, I admire you, offspring of Roman origin!”, and CADE's “I admire the boldness of these unscrupulous people”.^[9][8][13] The reflexive means “to admire oneself”.^[3][9]

The family came in from French and Latin at the same time: admirator (1830), with a variant amirător after Italian ammiratore, admirabil (about 1832), admirație (1834) and admirativ (1840).^[2][7]

Timeline

• 1360 – French amirer, later respelled admirer.^[11]
• 1794 – in a calendar printed in Vienna, the first Romanian record.^[2][8]
• 1830 – admirator “admirer”, also as amirător.^[2]
• c. 1832 – admirabil “admirable” in I. Golescu's Condica.^[2]
• 1834 – admirație “admiration”.^[2]
• 1840 – admirativ “admiring”.^[2]
• 1848 – in Negulici's dictionary, with the presents admir and admirez.^[12]
• 1880 – admiratoare, the feminine of admirator.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To admire: to look at something or someone with delight, esteem or wonder; to value highly.^[4][2][1]
2. (reflexive) To admire oneself.^[3][9]
3. (ironic) To marvel at something unworthy.^[13][9]

Word family

• admirabil
• admirat
• admirativ
• admirator
• admirație

Related words

• mira

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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. admira
3. ^ a b c d 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 DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 14
5. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. admira
6. ^ Costăchescu, Adriana; Dincă, Daniela; Dragoste, Ramona; Popescu, Mihaela; Scurtu, Gabriela (2009–2010), Dicționar de împrumuturi lexicale din limba franceză (DILF), 2 vols., Craiova: Universitaria, p. s.v. admira
7. ^ 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. admira
8. ^ a b c d Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. admira
9. ^ a b c d e f 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. admira
10. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
12. ^ a b Negulici, I. D. (1848), Vocabular romînesc de toate vorbele streine întroduse pînă acum în limba romînească și de toate cuvintele ce s-ar mai putea introduce încă, București, p. s.v. admira
13. ^ a b Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. admira