alternativă

Forms

alternativă f (plural alternative)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French alternative.^{[2][3][4][5][6][1]} DELR places it in the family of alterna, from French alterner and Latin alternō (“to do by turns”), which comes from alternus (“by turns”) and alter (“the other of two”).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the French–Romanian vocabulary of Poenaru, Aaron and Hill (1840), in the sense of a situation with two mutually exclusive ways to follow.^[2][5] Negulici (1848) explains it as the state of someone who can choose only between two things: „Mă aflu în alternativă” “I find myself in an alternative”.^[7]

Semantic evolution

The sense of a forced choice between two courses is the oldest and remains the main one: Maiorescu spoke in parliament of „greaua alternativă” “the hard alternative” of refusing or accepting the return of three districts.^[6][4] Barcianu glossed it with German Nothwahl and Entweder–oder “either–or”.^[8] Șăineanu also gives a succession of things that come back in turn, a sense Marcu and Maneca mark as rare.^[9][10] In logic it names the relation between two judgements of which only one can be true.^[3] DELR also uses it for either of the two courses itself, and NODEX for the situation of someone who must make the choice.^[2][11]

Timeline

• 1840 – first record, in the vocabulary of Poenaru, Aaron and Hill.^[2][5]
• 1848 – Negulici defines it.^[7]
• 1866 – Maiorescu's parliamentary speeches, MDA2's first record.^[4][6]
• 1886 – Barcianu's German gloss “either–or”.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A choice between two solutions or situations that exclude each other: Ne aflăm în fața unei alternative grele.^[3][4][1]
2. Either of two courses or solutions that exclude each other; an alternative.^[2][1]
3. (logic) The relation between two judgements such that if one is true the other is necessarily false.^[3]
4. (rare) A succession of two things that come in turn.^[10][9]

Related words

• alterna
• alternativ
• alternanță

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f 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. alterna
3. ^ a b c d DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 31
4. ^ 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, 46
5. ^ a b c Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. alternativă
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. alternativă
7. ^ 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. alternativă
8. ^ a b Barcianu, Sava Popovici (1886), Dicționar român-germân și germân-român, revised by D. P. Barcianu, part I: român-germân, Sibiu: Institut tipografic, p. 20
9. ^ a b Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 19
10. ^ a b Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România
11. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional