ambasador

Forms

ambasador m (plural ambasadori, feminine equivalent ambasadoare)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French ambassadeur.^[2][3][4][1] The old forms ambașator and ambașador are borrowed from Italian ambasciatore, and Tiktin gives the Italian and French words together.^[2][5]

DELR traces the family through French ambassade, from Italian ambasciata, from Old Occitan ambayssada, formed on ambaissa, from Medieval Latin ambascia (“service, charge”); that word goes back through Germanic to a Celtic word for “servant” recorded as Latin ambactus.^[2] Scriban derived the French noun from ambactiator, with its ending remade after the Italian word.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR's first record is from 1794, in the form ambașador, in Văcărescu's history.^[2] Tiktin's is from about 1812, in Șincai's chronicle, in the form ambașator.^[5] MDA2's first record is in the works of Constantin Negruzzi, printed in 1872: a Frenchman who later became ambassador to England.^[4][7]

Semantic evolution

The DA quotes an older form ambasadore from the documents of the Uricariul, of an envoy who must be heard and free to defend the rights of the country.^[7] Costinescu's dictionary of 1870 glosses ambassadorŭ with the native sol, with “representative” and “envoy”.^[8] The narrower sense, the head of a permanent diplomatic mission of the first rank, and the jocular one, a person sent by someone with a message, are both in the DA.^[7][4] In underworld slang an ambasador is an accomplice, or a pimp.^[9]

The feminine ambasadoare is recorded from 1907, first also “an ambassador's wife”, a sense that ambasadoreasă (1839) and ambasadriță (1840, from ambassadrice) had before it.^[2][10]

Timeline

• 1794 – ambașador in Văcărescu's history, the first record.^[2]
• c. 1812 – ambașator in Șincai's chronicle.^[5]
• 1837 – the noun ambasadă in Negruzzi.^[2]
• 1839 – ambasadoreasă “ambassador's wife”.^[2]
• 1870 – ambassadorŭ in Costinescu's dictionary.^[8]
• 1907 – the feminine ambasadoare.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. An ambassador, a diplomatic representative of the highest rank.^[3][4]
2. A person sent on a special mission to a state or an international body; figuratively, a representative: ambasadori ai culturii românești.^[3][11]
3. (ironic) Anyone sent by someone with a message or a task.^[4][7]
4. (slang) An accomplice; a pimp.^[9]

Word family

• ambasadoare

Related words

• ambasadă
• sol
• French ambassadeur

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. ambasadă
3. ^ a b c DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 34
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, 51
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. ambasador
6. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 93
7. ^ a b c d 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. ambasador
8. ^ a b Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 1, 36
9. ^ a b Volceanov, George (2007), Dicționar de argou al limbii române, București: Niculescu, p. s.v. ambasador
10. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. ambasador
11. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1, 73