admirator

Forms

admirator m (plural admiratori, feminine equivalent admiratoare)^[1] The feminine is admiratoare, recorded from 1880 in Convorbiri literare.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French admirateur, with Latin admīrātor as a second model.^{[2][3][4][5][1]} The DA and Tiktin name only French, while Scriban gives only Latin.^[6][5][7] The earliest form, the variant amirător, is from Italian ammiratore.^[2] The Latin noun is formed on admīror (“to admire, wonder at”) with the agent suffix -tor.^[8][1] It belongs to the family of admira, from French admirer.^[2][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR's first record is of 1830, under the Italian-shaped variant amirător;^[2][5] Tiktin also dates the word to about 1830.^[2][5] Negulici (1848) defines an admirator as one who looks at something with wonder.^[10]

Semantic evolution

The sense, a person who admires someone or something, has not changed.^[3][4] Negulici's example sets admirers against imitators: virtue has more admirers than imitators.^[10] Costinescu (1870) also has an adjectival use, un popul admirator “an admiring people”, after French un peuple admirateur.^[11] The DA quotes Maiorescu, for whom Eminescu was an admirer of the Vedas.^[6]

Timeline

• 1830 – the variant amirător.^[2]
• c. 1830 – admirator in Tiktin's first record.^[5]
• 1848 – defined in Negulici's dictionary of neologisms.^[10]
• 1867–1892 – in Maiorescu's Critice.^[4][6]
• 1880 – the feminine admiratoare.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. An admirer: a person who admires someone or something.^[3][4]

Adjective

1. Admiring.^[4][11]

Related words

• admira
• admirație
• admirabil
• Latin admīrātor

References

1. ^ a b c 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. admira
3. ^ a b c d DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 14
4. ^ 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, 17
5. ^ 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. admirator
6. ^ a b c 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. admirator
7. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 72
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ 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
10. ^ a b c 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. admirator
11. ^ a b Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 1, 18